So here in my bed the police are abolished.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;No fluids,

no settlement: only a duvet&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;like warm snow, &amp; only

the desire for no police &amp; the actual&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;no police

&amp; your morning&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;wood at rest on my crack.


But police come through the crack&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;in the blind,

bronze shields bearing&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;the smile of a vicious day,

in which abolition is teething&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;at the buttered toast of death,

&amp; there was always death in the bed,&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &amp; the sun clears her throat.


Abolish the Police

Before we continue&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; we must accept &ldquo;Abolish

the Police&rdquo; is not&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;a metaphor, not the silence

from breath to breath, the silence&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;enclosed

by the colon, not&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; the spun coin of freedom, nor any

such shifty goalposts, but only&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;itself, the demand

&amp; its becoming.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Here: no police, no prisons,

no psychiatrists, no borders.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The police is not

a metaphor: he is the fist of the state.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Break my mouth!

How could I marshal&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;metaphor against him, let

words be ought other than beats?&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Abolish the Police.


You say that my violence&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; disturbs you.

I press&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;blue fingernails

in an arc&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; around your left nipple

&amp; through,&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;cupping the heart

from above,&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &amp; this feels

to both of us&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; like truffles melting

against the roofs&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; of our mouths.

&ldquo;Do you imagine,&rdquo;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I say,

&ldquo;That I&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; am not disturbed?

I wish I could imagine&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;an end

to police&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;untouched by revenge.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Try harder,&rdquo; you say,&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;slicing a poem

across my palm,&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;a neat cut

that you take&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;into your huge mouth,

eyes sharp&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;with unwanted wealth.


Harry Josephine Giles

We Want It All

Abolish the Police

Abolish the Police

Abolish the Police