A Dangerous Place To Be

By Zach Charles

10 jan 27 yo alki apt 313p

“speak plainly” said the politician

“i can speak no other way” responded the poet

  the protests have ramped up

    after the murder of Renée Good a white

                           queer woman

 Rep Chuy Garcia IL says don’t

                                  forget

Marimar Marinez & Silverio Villegas Garcia

  immigration & customs enforcement

 officers are killing outside

   the schools right after drop off

Renée’s child      Silverio’s children

       Marimar’s students

                 good lord

 they never thought   should never

 have thought those would be their last

     “te quiero”s “I’ll see you

                           later”s

     good lord speak plainly

    i can speak no other way

good lord the schools are

      the most dangerous places to be

         lordy

   the schools are the most dangerous

      places to be

   lawmakers are demanding

         legal action

      or no action

        defunding or retraining

   self-defence can happen

  any time when the world

                    is out to get ya

    & maybe the political dynamic

   is changing

                  how deeply disturbing

                are the videos?

              policing experts express

          officer may have taken needless 

          risk by standing where he stood

    i swear i’ve heard that

  before … talking about

     John Lewis on the Edmund

    Pettus bridge    broken skull and all

  but don’t stand in front of

                moving vehicles

    the policing experts say

  so do moms & teachers

  but that’s what jon ross did

     & many officers have

        been trained that a car

        is no different from a

        firearm

    so says james pastor   

      a former police union attorney

   I’m not mad at you said Renée

  in front of a car is a

  dangerous place to be

             in front of a gun

        is a dangerous place

              to be

  we could get rid of them all

 but USamerica is a dangerous

    place to be

         good lord speak plainly

     trump’s USamerica

           is a dangerous place to be

Zachary Charles (they/he) is on the board of the Cascadia Poetry Lab, a member of the Poetry Postcard Fest project board, the audio assistant on Cascadian Prophets (on Spotify), and a member of Cascadia 2050. They are a co-editor of Breathe, they teach Spanish, and have a cat and a dog. They are the author of Twentyfour Self Portraits at TwentyFour from Carbonation Press (2024).