The last rally...

There is danger in this room.

Before the exit doors,

where beyond, in the night,

no one is listening.

I feel your tense intention

like a water bucket trembling –

opaque with agitation – if you hear

me through that noise,

I'll talk to you: killing me will

leave a hole on this stage, but

it will not make you stop trembling.

You. You have cares and softness

between your eyebrows,

tightened from squinting through

cross-hairs. Drop down the

barrel-end. Remember that I felt you;

That you are real and not alone.

These are dangerous times,

but I take that as a sign of successes.

we are not powerful here, but

I take that as a sign we are good.

Toward a thousand commands

“On the ground” “Shut up” “Disperse,”

a thousand audits and seizures,

using legal misquotes of social philosophies.

If we create a little joke a wall-painting

a kindness, then what becomes of

a hard statement a slogan a sanction ...but

a discussion a background a wall around a room?

Build up out of danger, up into daylight,

up to where the air rings. Use sticks

and mud that cost nothing, and pay

into them your beauty. Let that

Create your way home.{* bang.}