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