a 2-part poem using the first line from The Golden Shovel by Terrance Hayes, Part II “1991”: Into the tented city we go I. Fun Into the tented city we go Not knowing what we might find Hoping for something special Unique Unusual In the urban fabric landscape With nowhere to charge devices Maybe: finding kids Suddenly without all their screens Playing invented games that never existed before that moment II. Defiance Into the tented city we go Finding an unhoused city A city of people living in tents Who are not “camping out” Who cannot go back To warm dry homes Made of brick Or wood Or stone Who yet and still Clap and shout Dance and sing To remind us that They are here They are with us They are alive They are human |