Have Names! Poem by Eric Cockrell

sirens and lights
rape the night sky;
beaten, terrorized,

loaded like cattle
and taken away.
while on the stage,

the puppets turn,
voices piped in from afar....
the homeless family

breaks in a vacant house....
the children hushed and
huddling for warmth....

lights from a passing car,
on the sign, foreclosed!
food scraps taken from the trash,

a dog barking down the street.
pepper spray, batons, a blanket....
and a gas station closed....

even the pumps have names!