Beau Beausoleil: A Glyphic House at Alley Cat Books

On this day
we are trying to gather
the lives and moments
that need illuminating

We need to remember
the women who
put their work down
on the factory floor

and walked out
to strike

We need to remember
the children
who were shot
in their classrooms

along with
their teachers

These two contradictory things
are part of remembering
on this calendar day

We mark this day
with small poems
of blood and salt

To help us  remember
the ones
who were spit on

The one who were
dragged from
their cars

and beaten

Small  poems of blood
and salt on this day

to help us remember
those who were carried to
the rope

And those
who gathered there
and stood by
watching

as close as
my arm to
yours

or even
a hundred cities
away

We mark this day
with small poems of blood
and salt

shaped
with our hands

Poems that when taken
into our lives
make us unable
to swallow and forget