Some questions I’ve had in this crisis
Drones, monuments, bombs, and best wishes
What are we going to do if this doesn’t end?
While we stockpile weapons in the face of disease
What sails overhead at night in the dark targeting claiming, erasing
And how do we know when it’s over?
The mechanism we all carry, carries us, heaving forever downward against the neck
Today on a drive i witness some men
On an island of stone at the edge of our neighborhood
From where it stood planted along
Unceremoniously removing the peace tree
We must choose to become a countering magic of new birth amidst pandemic
To shout small things and big things, listen and make space against fear
The boy and girl, they sparked smoke and monuments,
Together tossed them, together they street, defining abutment and intersection, a shared Oppression lit with orange, blue, and black.
Driven by fear, waving flags, shallow breathing, we sit in the tank
Dissolving borders between aggressor & bystander, in the territory of the stakeholder (hold tighter)
In a room with no windows the small body baby born to resist
Loving hands place the inert materials in balance with
The forever investments in the war machine
A drone, these monuments, bombs, our virus, and today
Some questions I’ve had remain.
Daniel J. King, 2020
A contribution to the DE-MIL-I-TA-RISE Portfolio (Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative along with For the People Artists Collective, About Face: Veterans Against the War, the emerging Veteran Art Movement, and Hoofprint Press to organize a print portfolio and booklet for use in Dissenters organizing campaigns, popular education projects, and cultural programming.
