everyone is a victim
inside the bagel shop
the protest marches are on the morning news
there are a pack of cops watching them
while men behind the counter are hopping to it
buttering cop bagels and toasting cop muffins
fixing cop coffee and making cop smoothies
we are a sea of white men on a sunday morning
a shop full of america’s least desirable overlords
there is one woman amongst us
a black woman
she’s the only person not watching the tv
she’s trying to get a scone and an orange juice
but the bagel men are talking to the cops about the protest
how a couple of anarchists went after cops
with bags of hammers
an alleged attack,
one of the cops spits
that could’ve caused brain damage,
the head bagel man says
with cops…how in the fuck could you tell?
the night before, my wife and i were down in the protests
we marched for half a mile or so
from the book store to the wine store
chanting about taking back the streets
how racist all of the cops are
it felt like a shining moment walking down
the middle of broadway
a sea of different people united under a common cause
but you could sense the futility of it all
if you looked to the side at the thousands of cops at the
ready
slouching, smirking, hands on their holsters
police vans by the dozens
it let you know whose streets these really were
and all of the blood you’d need to take them back
but in the bagel shop this morning
the cops are still the good ol’ boys, the big heroes
the only lives that matter on this block
their every whim is taken care of by the bagel men
strawberry tarts and cream instead of whole milk
a complimentary copy of the ny post
as the black woman sails between a sea of blue
asking behind the counter where the line starts and ends
running late….church, she mutters
as one bagel man looks up at the television
rolls his eyes and says from one cop to another
you ever notice how
everyone is a victim these days?
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