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Thursday, November 17, 2011

OCCUPY AMERICA

by F.I. Goldhaber


Young and old, jobless
and under employed
they stream downtown
to pitch their tents.

In the face of tear
gas and pepper spray,
false arrest and
imprisonment

they persevere. I'm
reminded of the
Révolution
françaises,  "To the

barricades!" Then the
students, impoverished
bourgeoisie, and
leftists banded

together to fight
for the principles
this young nation
introduced to

the world: Liberté,
égalité, and
fraternité.
We don't set fires

in the street. Instead,
we camp, we march, we
carry signs to
remind passers

by exactly who
the villains in this
conflict are: stock
brokers, bankers,

mega corps who have
bought all three branches
of the U.S.
government.

Unlike seventeen
eighty-nine, police
now throw the first
stones. Across the

country, leaders are
violating the
constitution
they have sworn to

protect, the one that
guarantees"the right
of the people
peaceably to

assemble." This is
where we must make our
stand. On the streets
and when we mark

our ballots next year.
They have the money.
We have the votes.
We're the ninety

nine percent. This: these
tents, these signs,  is what
democracy
looks like today.


F.I. Goldhaber's second poetry collection Pairs of Poems was ranked number three in the Preditors & Editors readers poll for poems. She is an editor, book designer, poet, novelist, and story teller who's written professionally for more than a quarter century and has won a number of awards for her fiction and poetry. Her short stories, novelettes, poems, news stories, feature articles, essays, editorial columns, and reviews have been published in magazines, e-zines, newspapers, calendars, and anthologies. She's also had three erotica novels published under another name.
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