A JANUARY MURMERATION

The Women’s March, Washington DC

January 21, 2017

Streets are overflowing. Buses packed.

Metro stations vibrate. Pinks of every shade

flow and bob like wind-swept Birds of Paradise.

Crowds swirl and shape-shift as they advance.

Every gender, race, size, ethnic background flutters

forward as one, linked to fellow marchers as if intimates.

We smile at blanketed newborns, grandmothers in dreadlocks,

dogs in “Assistance” gear proclaiming their views.

Laughter fills the air as we discover each new

hand-lettered sign of protest. Cats and vaginas are everywhere.

There is humor in resistance: We shall overcomb.

Orange is the new black. There will be hell toupee.

Sidewalks clog, grass flattens, roadways disappear.

Still we cascade forward, placards and fists raised.

A Latino man sings America the Beautiful. Everyone

joins in as he crowns its good with Sisterhood.

We are leaderless and limitless.

A predator empowered us and we are soaring.

Rage and hope have readied us for transformation.

Today we are flying at the edges of revolution.