Linking arms is violent,
I can see how that makes sense.
A group of people
who won't hit back
when you beat them.
I suppose Jesus and Ghandi
were violent too?

No, really,
it totally made sense
for you to pepper spray them.
They were a vicious threat.
I'm sure that coffee they offered
was poisoned.

Poets, well, poets
are known for
their clever tongues.
And anyhow,
you broke his rib,
not his fingers.
He can still write.

Not like that boy,
the one with the hands.
But I'm sure he did
something to deserve
the chance that they
may never heal.

So too,
the boy
who coughed pepper spray
out of his lungs for an hour.
That's what he gets
for having a big mouth.

Police brutality,
like income inequality,
is a figment
of our collective imaginations.