to work in the mornings
I walk the other direction
past a sign commemorating
Joshua
Glover
a runaway slave from St. Louis
maybe near where Ferguson is now
The Fugitive Slave Act
imprisoned
Joshua here in Milwaukee
but protestors
broke down
the jail’s door
so Joshua
could get to Canada
on the Underground Railroad
…………………….Looking back at your life
…………………….wouldn’t you like
…………………….to say
……………………………I wasn’t apathetic
……………………………I got involved
……………………………rose up to be counted
……………………………among the righteous
……………………………To watch
……………………………the movie of history
……………………………and say “That was us”?
Instead
you go to the shopping mall
when we disrupt
your passive participation
You’re at the ice
skating rink
or on your drive
home
Instead you type doubts
into your telephone
You must think the jail’s
doors
opened wide for
Joshua
to walk out free
You must think
movements
are birthed
without blood
Which is not
to say
we want
anything to snap
but those
chains
Which is to say
there are
those
who texted the rewrite
of History’s
highway
When we marched across it
into a trap
——————————————————————————-
Learn more about Joshua Glover.
Learn more about what has been happening in Milwaukee recently.