#we – a recent history

a time where #democracy allows
a nation onto the stage
of its own poetics,
the monster of human poetry:
love, black smoke,
longing, belief,
let us live, just life,
a song of broken voices
trying to inhale

viral personality fascination,
glass screen conversations
become a true virus
real and digging in
locking into each alone
that makes up this country
finally exploding
gouged and frenzied
manic dancing
our unified protest
one last time cry
against indecent assault
violence
illegitimate authority
no one has the right
to lose the beat like that
ever

–Dog Cavanaugh, Spring 2020