lockdown

news reports note
200 people gathered
on the streets of
huntington beach, ca
protesting the lockdown.

sure i’m tired of booze,
masturbation, bad tv,
good tv, old books, bad poetry,
and i thought, ’round em up.’
force quarantine.

i also remember people
being rounded up for speaking
up, saying nothing dangerous or threatening,
generally, for just for not being part
of the plan.

despite stupid behavior,
despite unnecessary risk,
i still believe in a
piece of parchment
sitting behind 5 inches of
glass in a well secured building.
some might remember it,
some may have even read it.
we the people…

i am not happy
w/ the ways things
are going as i
sit alone in a bunker
waiting patiently
for things to get better.

and when i finally crawl out,
when i see my shadow,
when my breath once again
hangs on cold air,
nothing will have changed.

we might take off our masks,
we might fuck w/strangers,
we might gather in arenas
and bathhouses,
but we still live under the
tyrannical rule of an administration
insane. one voted in, legally.

and as we stare into an uncertain
future, as we long for days
of shelter, a storm rising
will destroy all who stand
in its path.

Jack Henry is a writer/editor based in Southern California. Recent publications can be found in Raven’s Cage, Horror Sleaze Trash, Red Fez, Rusty Truck, Dope Fiend Daily, Smoking Typewriter, Fearless, among others, He is also editor of Heroin Love Songs and 1870 Press. A new book, Driving W/Crazy, will be available in the Fall of 2020 from Punk Hostage Press. Read other articles by Jack.