after the dream act is revoked

 

it’s time to get my hair cut again & the dream act
just got rolled back      what can i do
get in the car    keep the appointment
preserve etiquette        the economy        routine
so stupid        stupid        stupid        what can i do
pick fruit for a pie      sweep the floor
feed the dog        call my reps        send emails
knit a pink hat        go to a march         write this dumb poem
phone my kids who I can reasonably assume
will not get shot going out for milk        or sling-shot
back to a country that vomited them up
in fire & thirst & dismemberment
to land here with no guarantees
but what it says in the constitution        oh        right

that applies only to        “citizens”
& those the law defines as        “persons”
such as some corporations        but not to all human beings
& as per the 3/5 clause and Dred Scott       does not even
always recognize all 5/5 of each human being         oh         right
that what’s-a-person thing is a very vexing question

well then         what about my-country-tis-of-thee
freedom        fairness & civil rights        a government
governed by the will of its people but        who are its people
what do we mean by “people”        by “its”
I can play this game all day long        the people
I know are mostly decent

if catatonic with abundance & consumption & god
& their screens        & oh god this hair
really needs to be cut        this floor swept
the dog fed        these apples
should be picked before they rot        who does not
abhor waste        what can i do
what can i do         what will it take for us
to see refugees as refugees        not carpetbaggers

but people like our own brothers & sisters & parents & children
—so many children who can’t swim keep crossing that river
the fires our CIA set still raging behind them—
& when will we admit the pogrom is here    &
people are people are people are people are
people are        already beginning        to disappear