America is on fire, but it’s okay –
we’ve burned before and we’ll surely
burn again. Men in masks smash store windows
and flames from a police car rise into a clear night sky.
I saw it all from the apartment window.
The protests have not stopped, nor should they,
but we clutch our rosaries and pray the men of the night
don’t burn everything down, and the election
isn’t an invitation to fire-bomb city hall
and start a revolution where black blood soaks the streets,
and history is forged in violence –
as it always is and always will be.
(Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash)
