This Is Us – January 6, 2021

This Is Us - January 6, 2021

A boot, many boots, on a desk, on a neck, on your neck, 
on your desk, marching down the hall, kicking in doors,
dragging dog shit across the tiles
A flag, many flags, stars and stripes and bars and crosses, 
Reds and whites, yellow, black, scales, hand drawn signs, 
Don’t tread on me while I tread on you, my vote counts, money matters
Smoke, 
Flash bombs
Overstuffed backpacks, long guns and IEDs
Across the mall, across the lawn, up the steps, through the windows, 
Selfies with the complicit,
Chants and stomps, high fives and let us in,
Let us in,
While we keep you out
Broken glass, broken fingers, broken bodies, broken promises,
A dead woman in the hall,

This letter from the state of Arizona appears to be 
regular in form,
Why does the gentleman from Arizona rise?
Order in this chamber, the gentleman will--

Barricades and opened doorways and
Here comes the tear gas, let us in,

And eventually curfews and sweeps and sirens and then sighs
of I’m sorry and my heart is broken and hands wringing 
and this isn’t us---

This
 Is
 Us

Look at the mob.
Look at the monster.
You are Victor and you are Prometheus.
You are the forest and the fire.

That is you, right there, with your boot on a neck, 
and that is me, and your neighbor.
Look

Recognize our face in the faces on the news