Shanghai 2022
when the apartment caught fire
people died
the next night
a bullhorn orders protestors home
beware the riot
control agent warns
of foreign agitants
in your midst
washed in orange and white
lights they ask who
are these foreign agitants?
Marx and Engels?
***
after the fire a man
bunched in his hands
yellow daisies orange asters
bought for 80 yuan
on his way to work
at some point he realized
there is no such thing
as making feelings
illegal
I’m holding flowers
he said trudging across
the same crosswalk
dozens of times
Is that a crime?
urging people
to be brave as officers
in neon vests warned onlookers to go
about their business
as though their business
was not this man
reminding the crowd they knew
what they knew
***
before the fire a man
draped banners over a bridge
red strokes framing
the morning commute crawling below
faces drawn by
the censer of tiresmoke
We don’t want PCR tests We want food
We don’t want lies We want dignity
infant sun reflected from the silver
strips of his fluorescent vest
his white hard hat because he knew no one
would ever question
work
***
before a man
dangled
groceries from his arms
stork beaks
that could have held
his children
planting his black slacks always in the path
where the tanks were rolling
to escape
the smell of ash
***
how carefully he considered
which flowers how his neck craned
as they buried him in hands
bulldozed him into
the cruiser
rubber seizing asphalt
peeling away while the crowd
filmed
their heads turning
toward the car
like it was sunlight
