Welcome. Everybody is welcome.
Tired masses, welcome.
Those who were brought here, welcome.
Those who were here, welcome.
Old and new family, welcome all around
to everybody in line right now.
You are all the tired masses right now
and right now everybody
has to get in line. Get in line, everybody.
Lines being drawn, drawn around the tired masses.
The tired masses. We are everybody,
we who are tired. Masses of us
in lines, welcome. Welcome to the lines.
Welcome to the masses.
Open up your windows and your hearts
to the people in line. Break a window if you must,
if it’s holding you back. The cops will be by
shortly to handle the broken windows
between you and the tired masses.
The cops are so tired of the masses.
The line forms before the masses.
Get behind this line, masses.
Get behind this good blue line.
Everybody is welcome to stand
in line behind the line.
Welcome to standing in line
behind or in front of that blue line.
You will be asked to speak. Know your lines.
Know where you stand. Speak. Stand.
String yourself out along your line.
Lines tugged back and forth.
Every line, also a string.
Your strings are being pulled.
Strings are being pulled everywhere.
The cops are not pulling the strings.
The cops are just pushing the line.
Did you forget who pulls the strings?
Welcome, everybody, to the line.
Choose a line to stand behind.
See where you stand
and see who’s behind you.
Everybody
is watching everybody
to see where everybody else
chooses to stand.
Everybody is so tired.
Welcome to the fatigue state.
Welcome everybody.
The minute you think, you fall.
The second you fall,
in that second you are more than welcome.
October 23, 2020
American Fugue
About Tony Brown
Dark Matter 
October 23rd, 2020 at 3:36 pm
in line, a long, long line, six feet apart, who are all those masked people around me?
poll worker asking kindly if I want to go to the head of the line since I have a walker….
no, my walker has wheels and a seat if I get in pain and the woman behind me has one foot bandaged…..
but, no she says the chairs six feet apart along the way are enough…. she and I begin to chat a bit loudly what with masks and six feet between us……
we talk about our challenges….our loved ones…..she mentions how something hard turned out to be a blessing….I respond enthusiastically…..I recognize a person like myself who sees a spirit moving in our life and feels the love behind it even in a crazy world with lots of pain……I suspect she will vote red and though I will vote blue….there’s a bond….we both know we are loved no matter what…..and we both try to pass that love on…..her to her neighbor who looks like her and me to the stranger who is different…..but we know the love first hand and we pass it on the best we can.