by Alan Catlin
 |
| Jonathan Bachman's Reuters photo of the moment that police arrested Ieshia Evans. |
The subject is
a tall, well-dressed
black woman
standing in middle
of a road, hands crossed
at the wrists
facing heavily armed
police-in-riot-gear
so like the blonde
hippie chick inserting
a flower in gun/muzzle
of a heavily armed-primed
for- attack national
guardsman
so like the 60’s:
a black woman arrested
for a silent, non-violent
protest
so like the 60’s
but without the peace
or love
just the wars,
the violence,
the murders,
the riots sure to follow,
and the guns
always
the guns
Alan Catlin is poetry editor of online journal
misfitmagazine.net. His latest book of poetry is American Odyssey from
Future Cycle Press.