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#cages
This wasn't crowd control  it was a deliberate calculated menacing attack  on peaceful Hispanic protestors. Protesting is  not  a crime and these people were doing nothing violent or destructive. ( No I am not saying everyone involved remained non violent or non destructive during the  entire fiasco.) I AM saying those I witnessed in these circumstances were not.      What I saw was exhibitionist intimidation. It was a clear message from Trump. Violent ego theater designed to terrify any person thinking of standing up. It was precise, humiliating, ,and meant to demoralize .   We watched it. We recorded it. Felt the sick weight of knowing the people doing it could claim letter of the law while committing the spirit of state terror. A pretty youngish  Hispanic lady is holding a sign  near a barricade. She has  it in both hands  . It's raised up  above her  head The sign talks about her child one of the  at least 1,583  still missing  CHILDREN   from  Donald J. Trump's first term in office. She’s turned away from them, sign raised . Cameras catch her from the side and back   watching, the whole thing clear and slow like a  youtube livestream nightmare shot on bad film. Behind her, the line of riot gear armored  officers, is losing their fraying patience. .  They don't issue anymore  orders They don’t shout, they don’t negotiate. They aim. The first canister screams and misses. She hasn't seen it or was distracted. The second and 3rd follow  in rapid succession and  it becomes  clear they are  aiming them  directly at her . She flinches at the  sound but hasn't looked  back to see  the  wall coming at her. , keeps her sign up, trying to get the cameras’ eyes, trying to show the world what’s happening. Then they fire again, and again, each cylinder a blunt instrument launched with the intention to harm. Finally  as they close the  distance  one projectile  slams directly  into the square middle of  her lower back with a thunderous, metallic oofing  impact. She goes down hard Her fingers slacken on the white  cardboard. The air fills with  her black hair the crowd starts screaming burning, with the chemical  cloud of so much  tear gas. It's broad daylight ,. It was quiet and almost peaceful. Before she can gather her hands to push herself  up they assault her wrap her hair in gloved  fist and yank. They are  on her  now  in  force screaming tearing at her simple  clothing like they are hauling away and enraged animal. They strike and pummel and shake her . She gets roughly zip tied finally . They drag her face down across the pavement then the asphalt. Eyes  blackening and swollen, tears and snot streaming lips busted and bleeding skin scraping, She’s choking and bleeding with the stench of the gas in her lungs.. No mercy. No pause. Just deliberate, humiliating force. Nearby, a young man who was filming with his phone also had  his back to them. They suddenly surged  forward into him He lazily keeps  moving away,  half trying to comply with their order, He sadistically  becomes their next object lesson. He steps slowly begrudgingly  where they want, they shout.  "DISPERSE"    His  slow shuffle It is not enough. Their cadence shifts. A group of head to toe armored officers in black   surges forward like a practiced wave. They grab him by the backpack, not a gentle steer but an iron twist, spin him like a ragdoll, and slam him face and neck into the concrete. He is not resisting. He is not fighting. He is trying to obey what they demanded. Still, they press his face into the ground and rain down baton blows, methodical and vicious, each strike an angry , frustrated punctuation mark in a sentence of punishment. Other officers join in more hold his limbs, pinning him as if he is a dangerous beast. The crowd screams. His phone disappears. The cameras record. It changes nothing. They had been standing there, singing or holding signs, an entirely peaceable assembly. Someone said disperse. Many did not move fast enough, by the  brutality squads arbitrary unknowable clock. The line stopped, then,  without further warning  just surged with no new...   or  additional anything The beaten and brutalized only offense was not being able to  disappear  instantly on command. That was enough to justify all this brutality. of course  there  was so much   more, but haven't I more  than made  the point  ? This was  before Donald Trump defied Governor Newsom and sent the Marines in as well. The Marines ! Never before in history has that ever been done !   The mostly Mexican Hispanics and other immigrants  had  been told  that  I.C.E.  had  come   into   schools  and  beat up  innocent teachers at  their  jobs   for being brown, beat them in front of the kids the screaming confused  students and then dragged them out in zip ties. They were also told  that agents were  going  to Home  Depot s and tackling employees in the  parking lot and dragging them away too. No one knew  what to believe other  than ICE was  there     and  their  neighbors  and  employees  were  being  disappeared again . Like back in 2017 , 2018, and 2019 when their children were separated from them,  never  to be seen or heard from ever again. Not even till this day in 2025 At least 1583  kids  in cages  with nothing but  foil  blankets for comfort JUST      ...    GONE  !
0
Sep 19, 2025
Sep 19, 2025 at 11:19 PM UTC
The I.C.E. L.A. riots, what I saw personally !
This wasn't crowd control  it was a deliberate calculated menacing attack  on peaceful Hispanic protestors. Protesting is  not  a crime and these people were doing nothing violent or destructive. ( No I am not saying everyone involved remained non violent or non destructive during the  entire fiasco.) I AM saying those I witnessed in these circumstances were not.      What I saw was exhibitionist intimidation. It was a clear message from Trump. Violent ego theater designed to terrify any person thinking of standing up. It was precise, humiliating, ,and meant to demoralize .   We watched it. We recorded it. Felt the sick weight of knowing the people doing it could claim letter of the law while committing the spirit of state terror. A pretty youngish  Hispanic lady is holding a sign  near a barricade. She has  it in both hands  . It's raised up  above her  head The sign talks about her child one of the  at least 1,583  still missing  CHILDREN   from  Donald J. Trump's first term in office. She’s turned away from them, sign raised . Cameras catch her from the side and back   watching, the whole thing clear and slow like a  youtube livestream nightmare shot on bad film. Behind her, the line of riot gear armored  officers, is losing their fraying patience. .  They don't issue anymore  orders They don’t shout, they don’t negotiate. They aim. The first canister screams and misses. She hasn't seen it or was distracted. The second and 3rd follow  in rapid succession and  it becomes  clear they are  aiming them  directly at her . She flinches at the  sound but hasn't looked  back to see  the  wall coming at her. , keeps her sign up, trying to get the cameras’ eyes, trying to show the world what’s happening. Then they fire again, and again, each cylinder a blunt instrument launched with the intention to harm. Finally  as they close the  distance  one projectile  slams directly  into the square middle of  her lower back with a thunderous, metallic oofing  impact. She goes down hard Her fingers slacken on the white  cardboard. The air fills with  her black hair the crowd starts screaming burning, with the chemical  cloud of so much  tear gas. It's broad daylight ,. It was quiet and almost peaceful. Before she can gather her hands to push herself  up they assault her wrap her hair in gloved  fist and yank. They are  on her  now  in  force screaming tearing at her simple  clothing like they are hauling away and enraged animal. They strike and pummel and shake her . She gets roughly zip tied finally . They drag her face down across the pavement then the asphalt. Eyes  blackening and swollen, tears and snot streaming lips busted and bleeding skin scraping, She’s choking and bleeding with the stench of the gas in her lungs.. No mercy. No pause. Just deliberate, humiliating force. Nearby, a young man who was filming with his phone also had  his back to them. They suddenly surged  forward into him He lazily keeps  moving away,  half trying to comply with their order, He sadistically  becomes their next object lesson. He steps slowly begrudgingly  where they want, they shout.  "DISPERSE"    His  slow shuffle It is not enough. Their cadence shifts. A group of head to toe armored officers in black   surges forward like a practiced wave. They grab him by the backpack, not a gentle steer but an iron twist, spin him like a ragdoll, and slam him face and neck into the concrete. He is not resisting. He is not fighting. He is trying to obey what they demanded. Still, they press his face into the ground and rain down baton blows, methodical and vicious, each strike an angry , frustrated punctuation mark in a sentence of punishment. Other officers join in more hold his limbs, pinning him as if he is a dangerous beast. The crowd screams. His phone disappears. The cameras record. It changes nothing. They had been standing there, singing or holding signs, an entirely peaceable assembly. Someone said disperse. Many did not move fast enough, by the  brutality squads arbitrary unknowable clock. The line stopped, then,  without further warning  just surged with no new...   or  additional anything The beaten and brutalized only offense was not being able to  disappear  instantly on command. That was enough to justify all this brutality. of course  there  was so much   more, but haven't I more  than made  the point  ? This was  before Donald Trump defied Governor Newsom and sent the Marines in as well. The Marines ! Never before in history has that ever been done !   The mostly Mexican Hispanics and other immigrants  had  been told  that  I.C.E.  had  come   into   schools  and  beat up  innocent teachers at  their  jobs   for being brown, beat them in front of the kids the screaming confused  students and then dragged them out in zip ties. They were also told  that agents were  going  to Home  Depot s and tackling employees in the  parking lot and dragging them away too. No one knew  what to believe other  than ICE was  there     and  their  neighbors  and  employees  were  being  disappeared again . Like back in 2017 , 2018, and 2019 when their children were separated from them,  never  to be seen or heard from ever again. Not even till this day in 2025 At least 1583  kids  in cages  with nothing but  foil  blankets for comfort JUST      ...    GONE  !
Continue reading...
109
My gibbet is a fine and private place where a lady may tarry of a summer afternoon elevated and untouchable-- an ideal love just out of reach like fruit for Tantalus, all pointless sweetness. Allen Ginsberg appears from out of the crowd, pink as a schoolmarm, fat as a Christmas goose carrying his harmonium singing about plutonium, barefoot as any angel, toking on the Golden Blunt. He looks up, mistaking me for a caught kite dangling above the street in my gibbet making other women's children point and cry demanding candy or weather reports. Someone climbs up and ties tin cans to the bottom of my gibbet in an atmosphere of giddy holiday. I die and begin to stink pieces falling away like confetti. Here I sway to this very day, high above the Emily Dickinson Parkway a paragon of virtue and demure reserve, dead as hell black as a bowling ball ring still on my finger, an ingenue of the afterlife, until gentrification when they'll take me down because gibbets are out, they're upsetting, like poetry, like dead dodos like buskers in the subway, beautiful, buried, irrelevant. _______
0
Jul 24, 2025
Jul 24, 2025 at 3:22 PM UTC
My Gibbet
I c//r//a\\ck\\ed my ribcage open ((because the love)) (((((my heart carries))))) (((((((((((((((((grew it))))))))))))))))))))) and now it doesn't fit any more
0
Jun 14, 2025
Jun 14, 2025 at 8:36 AM UTC
Wanted: Bigger Cage
next to the flat the neighbourhood tabby swatting at the drain. sinewed fur-lined, feline; finding some poor animal in a cage outside its making. i can’t see below the earth. the poor thing, fighting.
0
Dec 18, 2023
Dec 18, 2023 at 9:35 AM UTC
iii. grate
constantly corrupting correcting correctness combining comparing contrasting canning catastrophe creating cages claustrophobia can't control can't counter can't contest can't clean can't cry, can cry cancel culture.
0
Dec 2, 2021
Dec 2, 2021 at 2:53 AM UTC
cancel culture
While daydreams reverberate Off of blockade brains We sit in wooden cages Our painted faces Plastered in melting windows We watch pale skies While waiting for rain Or maybe the atom's apple To break the monotony Of thinking about the end ©KNL
0
Jul 8, 2021
Jul 8, 2021 at 12:22 AM UTC
Daydreams
Last night a young poet’s voice tore so deep within that it ripped my soul apart..... Her words of birds and cages and gravity and what human does to human brought me back to wind swept hills where the was sky blue enough to drown in and vast enough to blanket all corners of the earth where I, as a boy, worked and wandered wandered through words words spoken in telling and words raged in rage As I pulled the implements of grain through the soil I learned to think the dust I raised drifted across the land bringing with it my thoughts passed horizons, passed the hills to distant lands torn by the pains of love, of war, of loss and of what human does to human His rage was the desperation of a soul shredded by war by what human does to human he was caged between what he had seen and that he should still posses some hope between witnessing the destruction of a world and believing in a world But deep within him I had always heard a voice a voice buried deep beneath his rage a voice..... he could no longer hear but I could always hear “no matter how long I am caged no matter how long the gravity of ignorance and hate, the gravity of hubris and destruction binds and holds down my soul, I was alway meant to fly, we were all....meant to fly....”
0
Jan 23, 2021
Jan 23, 2021 at 8:56 AM UTC
Cages
They say they savor my poetic rhymes They say "bars!" But plenty people 've got more bars than mine My innocent cousin's upstate doing time My neighbor's niece, pobrecita sleeps In a cage for kids; She's only nine My great grandma's in the hood, first floor Bars blanketing her windows and her doors Peep! plenty people've got more bars than mine Meanwhile our nation's on its ninth bottle Building more bars, so we will ALL drown our sorrows 'Cause of colorful communities countrywide, whispering: "Hush Baby, don't you cry; Say 'yes, Sir,' and comply." "I have a dream-if-I Simply show 'em how we sing-ify, Sacrifice, and speechify, Maybe they'll realize..." We can't break the bars trapping our cries In these cells alive Until they break the bigoted bars trapping their minds In those braincells of lies! Hold it! Wait while I rewind Imma Erase and Retrace My rhyme's third line: I say plenty people've got more bars than minds! Plus many ***** minds mastermind more bars than mine! Which is why... My innocent cousin's upstate doing time My neighbor's niece, pobrecita sleeps In a cage for kids, she's only nine My great grandma's in the hood, first floor Bars blanketing her windows and her doors ...Bars! ~@peacocksecretspoetry
0
Dec 16, 2020
Dec 16, 2020 at 2:15 AM UTC
Bars & Beats
created by Mortals, or simply an act of the mind. generated by intentions dark, entered by the unaware and made to shackle Monsters.
0
Jul 20, 2020
Jul 20, 2020 at 11:31 PM UTC
cages.
In a dream, I see the raven fly into the night; his dark song beckoning from his beak. Shiny black wings promise flight, but to where? I watch as the pair of doves bellow their songs of love and with a rush of angels wings fly heavenward. I hear the bluebirds and sparrows little hum of hope fade softly into the afternoon sun, and I wonder, what does it all mean? Then I see them, and many other kinds of birds, with beautiful bright colors, Parakeets and parrots, eagles and herons...even a dodo and they are all rotting in cages. Some of the cages are open, others are closed, but all the birds are lying on their sides, sad dead eyes, staring blankly, finished and flightless. and I get it.
0
May 5, 2020
May 5, 2020 at 11:22 PM UTC
The Cages
The grim face of chaos sets in as the world gets chained to the cacophony. Speech of silence is unknown, The silent tortured in their mental cages.
0
Apr 8, 2020
Apr 8, 2020 at 3:13 AM UTC
SILENCE
Dispensing Keys by Hafiz aka Hafez loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The imbecile constructs cages for everyone he knows, while the sage (who has to duck his head whenever the moon glows) keeps dispensing keys all night long to the beautiful, rowdy, prison gang. Keywords/Tags: Hafiz, Hafez, translation, imbecile, cages, sage, duck, head, moon, keys, night, prison, gang, prisoners, inmates, felons
0
Apr 1, 2020
Apr 1, 2020 at 2:33 AM UTC
Hafiz "Dispensing Keys" translation
How strange a tide… apathetic to its core. Novichok in the system — we’ve already hit the floor. Not without warning for the interested few. Sure, indigo on the spectrum, but black in our view. Our prophets are wary, lamenting for the lot. The glass thicker than ever: they’re forced to watch them rot. Let’s not dilute it over biscuits and tea. We’re addicted to passion; it drains both you and me. Quit cold turkey; we’ll wither and die within the week. We blew past the sabbath; so muddle on and be meek. Telephone the skies, but the network is full: We put off the harvest — our calls all but null. “Don’t think just breathe and wait for the pull of the plug.” There’s a way, truth, and life; but deafness is the most popular drug. Our water is muddy; the dolls’ overjoyed. Reject all the falsehoods; their eyes shimmer from the void. I’m here to remind you there’s more than you think. Dead end paths are common; they want you to sink. Exist behind ego and you’ll miss the horizon. Perspective’s a gift if you’re looking to wisen. Races aren’t games for an aspiring professional. Throw out your excuses you don’t need a confessional. There’s anguish in the conviction; you’ll be forced to commit. But sleep-walking is pervasive; few actually submit.
0
Nov 28, 2019
Nov 28, 2019 at 1:41 PM UTC
Atheist-Land
I am encased in oppressive flesh, Tissues that restrict my transcendent nature. If it weren’t for this burdensome cage I’d evaporate and roll over the city with the clouds.
0
Nov 16, 2019
Nov 16, 2019 at 4:27 PM UTC
subtle awakenings
This wicked world, Is where I grew up. Hated the crowd, But I don't give up. People stab me right in the heart, And act like they are hurt. Feeling this for ages, Been living in the cages.
0
Jun 29, 2019
Jun 29, 2019 at 2:22 AM UTC
Wicked World
Your mind is confined in cages built by your own insecurities.
0
Jun 19, 2019
Jun 19, 2019 at 1:36 AM UTC
Confined
Hearts are wild creatures. They don't do well with rules and are rarely willing to compromise. They are illogical in what they feel. The emotions they bear are quite intense. They break easily, but can be difficult to unearth. They can be gentle, compassionate, understanding, comforting, and delicate. Other times, a raging storm, burning with passion, aggressive, cold, and unforgiving. The emotions wage war and can be deadly. Maybe this is why hearts are kept in cages
0
Dec 9, 2018
Dec 9, 2018 at 10:37 AM UTC
Hearts & Cages
Dark curly hair, swirling brown eyes, flawless face, perfect features. It was beautiful. But like all beautiful creatures it was caged and tormented. Tested and abused. Till finally it was internally broken and scared. Now it’s considered normal.
0
Jan 13, 2019
Jan 13, 2019 at 9:41 PM UTC
Normal
oh, little ones if I could build you a worthy city to keep you safe and dreaming I would crush the hope I had left into a powder, mix it with all the things we grown couldn't be and lay the slurry out to set, harden it with sun and air not hate forming a foundation where futures could be built oh, but my tools have no power I dented them in fury and shorted them in tears before they could be used to build   oh, little ones if ever I find safety in this homeless land I'll wrap you in it in a heartbeat
0
Sep 16, 2018
Sep 16, 2018 at 11:24 PM UTC
Paradise Lost in Cages and Ruined Superstores
Do you hear them too? he asked. the soft whispers of the abandoned the musings of a memory long forgotten the promise of a hope that’s yet to come. Do you hear that wailing? the sound of shattering dreams tearing the skin, marking its presence another drop in the ocean, another scream. Walk away from it all, leave it behind this is not a place one should visit but how far can you go away when it is your prison, you are in it. The sunlight passing through is a lie fettered to the sky, like you and your bars close your eyes, but the wailing doesn’t stop cut everything out, but that feeling won’t pass. The strange fear in your heart will grow choking, till you breathe in that pain till you open those eyes and see the misery that this life is the new mundane. Look back and remember the past Were you ever free? Ever able to fly? If you were, would you just be like Icarus? Shot down, with no one to hear your cry? With each passing moment, the fetters will grow till you forget what they really were for with each passing moment, the cage will shrink till you forget what you had lived for. The Garden of Eden was never the truth a memory simply woven out of sand when the sea of time had waited enough the tides washed away the promised land.
0
Jun 26, 2018
Jun 26, 2018 at 4:36 AM UTC
The Lie
though speaking is forbidden thoughts are not though love must be hidden it is they who call the shots we get no choice no voice no freedom to do what we want and where they all preach freedom they all claim equality but where is freedom when you're bound by restraints where is equality when you're shunned by your race you can't change your heart, your mind, your path you can't change your sad, your happy, your wrath when it all comes down to it it is up to them what you do when you do it and where you can't spin around and twirl in your favorite dress for there are restraints and that's disrespect you can't laugh aloud and smile real big for there are restraints and that's completely rigged restraints, restraints i want you to be no more my heart is bleeding from the label: you ***** my body is sore, let me go let me free i want to soar like the birds above the trees spread my wings and fly real high if i falter, i'll just have to try again and again until i get things right i'll never stop, no not out of fright i wont give up without a fight all i want is to be free to say goodbye to restraints hello to the breeze but that's not okay is it? to want to be me rules and regulations they rule this world society itself is a huge firebird that plows through the cities, fire on its wings burning through the houses and girls' confidence society is cruel, no not fair nor just there is no freedom of speech or rights restraints they are there forever in a day they tell you what to do and they tell you what to say and if you rebel punishment will come your way they take away your little freedom and send you into dispair so you must play their games and deal with the rules just count down the days until you can absolve into a big crowd and say goodbye to this life you once lived with no freedom or life one day their restraints will no longer contain you you will be a bird in a cage with the door wide open so wait little birdie keep your strength hidden away for one day you'll spread your wings and set to the sky away and away from this terrible life full of restraints, no voice no choice no freedom wait little bird for your day to be free
0
May 22, 2018
May 22, 2018 at 10:50 AM UTC
restraints.
though speaking is forbidden thoughts are not though love must be hidden it is they who call the shots we get no choice no voice no freedom to do what we want and where they all preach freedom they all claim equality but where is freedom when you're bound by restraints where is equality when you're shunned by your race you can't change your heart, your mind, your path you can't change your sad, your happy, your wrath when it all comes down to it it is up to them what you do when you do it and where you can't spin around and twirl in your favorite dress for there are restraints and that's disrespect you can't laugh aloud and smile real big for there are restraints and that's completely rigged restraints, restraints i want you to be no more my heart is bleeding from the label: you ***** my body is sore, let me go let me free i want to soar like the birds above the trees spread my wings and fly real high if i falter, i'll just have to try again and again until i get things right i'll never stop, no not out of fright i wont give up without a fight all i want is to be free to say goodbye to restraints hello to the breeze but that's not okay is it? to want to be me rules and regulations they rule this world society itself is a huge firebird that plows through the cities, fire on its wings burning through the houses and girls' confidence society is cruel, no not fair nor just there is no freedom of speech or rights restraints they are there forever in a day they tell you what to do and they tell you what to say and if you rebel punishment will come your way they take away your little freedom and send you into dispair so you must play their games and deal with the rules just count down the days until you can absolve into a big crowd and say goodbye to this life you once lived with no freedom or life one day their restraints will no longer contain you you will be a bird in a cage with the door wide open so wait little birdie keep your strength hidden away for one day you'll spread your wings and set to the sky away and away from this terrible life full of restraints, no voice no choice no freedom wait little bird for your day to be free
Continue reading...
71
I*nside the cages The freedom is the heaven In the chains any change is welcome The outside prison is calling out to you the invisible chains binding everyone on earth who go up, are falling down it is just like what is in this home Still the ravens are up true to their wing and we are in a place to go nowhere Yearning to feel to breathe the fresh air get an experience to be unbound get the heartbeats to beat back to the music The time when all the shackles are broken The time spins and we have nowhere to go but we run towards the sun But we can't fly*.
0
Apr 15, 2018
Apr 15, 2018 at 3:53 AM UTC
Fly
"Would you look at all these free souls carrying their cages wherever they go?" People are free. their minds free. their speech free. free from slavery. free. but are they truly, free? They have built cages for themselves. They never want to come out of them. We pray to God. unquestionably. unfailingly. but why do we fail to question the real reason why we pray to God? why are we searching for him in statues and people when we know he left this place a long time ago? and if he didn't leave, why do we celebrate what he created and not question what he destroyed? why do we fight to save someone we can't see or feel against the very people he created? Until people come out of the cages, we may never get the answer to these questions.
0
Mar 2, 2018
Mar 2, 2018 at 10:24 AM UTC
Free Souls in Cages