Occupy II: A Poem by Christopher Moylan

Chris reading this poem at Cinema Arts Centre Sky Room, July 25 

Occupy II

So much is missing,

where did it all go?

The gaps in the story

Are the story.

The hole in the map

Is the route home…

The lack of law

Is the law now.

The rot in the house

Is the foundation stone.

We owe everything

To nothing— nothing

Clothes, nothing cars,

Nothing toys.

Nothing circulates in

the blood like lead.

Next to nothing is all

For an unheard, uncounted,

unwanted, jobless,

futureless dread.

Everyone is going home

All the time, why

don’t we get there?

Everyone is speaking

In code, lines, rhymes, why

don’t we make ourselves clear?

Do we know what we want?

know what we lost? know

the bill for all those homes and

jobs, this corrosive anger, fear?

What is a life worth?

What is a heart worth?

What is a child worth?

A sick child? A poor child?

Any price, any sacrifice,

Or what the market will bear?

Free enterprise has ripped

highways through the golden rule,

lifted toxic mounds to profit,

Burning species on the pyre…

Enough! Occupy instead. Occupy

the supply, occupy the demand,

Occupy the answer, occupy

the question. Occupy

the proof  and premise,

the fact and inference,

the here and hereto,

the beginning and end,

heaven and earth,

land and the sea,

tree and fruit.

Occupy the front of your hand

And the back of your hand,

Occupy the dead of night

And the light of day,

Occupy the real, the solid,

The obvious, the true—

Both Houses are brothels,

Europe is lost; you’re next.

Occupy the straight

smack in front of you.

Occupy the Mayflower and

Rockefeller Center. Occupy

Ft. Knox and Ticonderoga,

Haymarket and Blair Mountain,

The hallelujah chorus and

The Gettysburg Address.

Occupy your bodies, occupy

Compassion, occupy Paul

Revere’s ride, occupy

the pursuit of happiness.

Occupy prison labor in China,

Aids in Africa, black lung,

blood diamonds, shale

underground, oil in the water.

Occupy anything you like.

Don’t stop, don’t give in to fear,

Don’t compromise. Keep on

Right on. Persevere. Hammer

stakes in the holy ground,

And stay there.

Photos by Paul McLean