9. The Helicopters Bury the Night

the helicopters | you can hear | the

helicopters chopping the air | we can

hear the helicopters here | in the air

they search for | people waiting | they

turn | in the air | to search for people

they love their nightly dragonflight

as they turn | they cant to one side

in the darkness | we cannot see them

within | they circle | they swirl | they

(when they have an opportunity to)

hover above | to watch | they like

to watch | so high up | so high up

they can barely see | the people they

follow | the people they watch | they

wait to see what happens | they

will watch | and they will report | but

they cannot drop napalm | they

cannot riddle bodies with bullets

they cannot swoop | down upon

and sweep the people off their feet

 

the moon is | encircled by clouds | and

it is our only natural light | the moon

is the single eye of every | single night

some days a fingernail | on others round

today | a little gibbous | or gibboused

by clouds | the moon reveals its scars

it shows us | the dips and craters on its

face | the moon is not vain | the moon

does not care what | we think of it

the moon is comfortable in its skin

and aloof | it does not | it will not send

word to us | will not tell us what | it has

learned | it follows the same pattern

day by day | month by lunar month

year by | year lost to pandemic | decade

by decade lost to hate | we are a broken

people | we are a breaking people | we

have turned our backs on the moon to

allow the love to slip | out | just a bit

out of us | and then entirely so | out

 

the people protest | within the pandemic

the people protest | within the depression

the people protest | the world they have

received | when we killed a little boy

holding a toy gun | we did not stop this

killing | when we killed a boy walking home

we did not stop the killing | when we killed

a man who sold a cigarette | we did not stop

our killing | when we punctured the body

of a man with 19 bullets for standing beside

his building | we did not stop our precious

killing | when we kill | we say | we were

afraid | there was fear in my body | and

that | was enough | I cannot prove my

fear | but my fear is worth a life | we are

innocent because we were afraid | today

a little black baby boy was born but he

was not brown | but he will be brown soon

and when he is | we may have to kneel

on his neck | for our counterfeit fear