by Melanie DuBose
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AI-generated graphic by Shutterstock for The New Verse News. |
1
a human wall
around
their mother
as
masked men
reached for her
Don't let go
don't let go
a child said
"I'm still shaking," —a bystander
2
crazy spectacles of violence
dismantling resistance
suppressing dissent
paralyzing the community
authoritarianism and control
gestapo-style intimidation
We let them in
they asked to use the bathroom
they did not use the bathroom
"We were not ready," —Museum Worker.
3
3pm to 3am
We dance
honk horns
play music
kidnappers
hunt down our family members
throw them down on concrete
question the very workers
who clean their rooms
"A peaceful protest just very noisy," —Verita Topoke.
Author’s note: Each poem was found in the words of the news report hyperlinked to its title.
Melanie DuBose lives under camphor trees filled with parrots in Los Angeles (Highland Park). A graduate of the UCLA film school and an advocate for equity in arts education. Her prose and poetry have been published in many journals, including The Ekphrastic Review, Kelp/the Wave, The Los Angeles Press, Nixes Mate Review,, and The New Verse News. She recently finished writing her first novel, People Who Love You.
