We Shall Not

'We shall not be moved'

Rings hollow when we're picked

Up and thrown out, kicking

And screaming The Whole World

Is Watching—but there's a blind

Spot when the cameramen

Are the first to go. 

There's a gang of boys stomping

Anthills: it's so much easier

To kick something over than

To create it.  We might look

Like insects under your boot but

Damnit we toiled for this

Two months undone in hours.

Resurrection City is in

A dumpster in Lower Manhattan,

Our footprints pressure-washed

Away. I had a dream

until

The helicopters enforcing

The no-fly zone woke me up.

Justice for all is a city

councilman arrested

bleeding from the head. The nexus

In our protest against corporations

In bed with government is policed

By a billionaire mayor sleeping

With a Brookfield Properties chair.

Now what can we say? We

Shall Not—what, Be Silenced?

That works, until brain damage

Leaves us mute.  We Shall Not

Be Subverted Or Privatized—

They're noble words, but

Time will tell. 

I can only promise this:

WE SHALL NOT go gentle into that

Good night.  Forgive me, America,

If this sounds like a shot fired;

I meant no offense.  Don't take

these words too harshly; it's a jest,

A rubber bullet.