DAY 24: LEE ANN RORIPAUGH, LET FREEDOM RIOT SING

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LEE ANN RORIPAUGH

let freedom sing riot

profane as wildflowers

shoving oxygen back

into the brutal

and dictatorial air

in blue-gloved airports

in locked closets

in bombed clinics

in blood-soaked schools

in the sanctuary

beneath the jaded gaze

of scopophilic saints:

wound as spectacle

wound as bloody gash

wound as commodity

bound foot’s rotten gauze

and silk unwound

crushed bones unmachined

whalebone unharpooned

ribs unlaced

jawbone unshattered

chastity belt unchaste(ned):

a box of fear

duct-taped in day-glo

slit open

oranges alert

behind the purdah

of pesticide’s sugary veil

queen bees unsealed

from collapsing tombs of wax

guitar laws unblued

into unchained melody

Andromeda unjailed

as bait to monstrous appetite

a pistol-whipped Prometheus

left as eagle carrion

unbound from barbed wire

ungash

unslit

unmuffled

chastity belt unchaste(ned):

cunt uncensored

clitoris unhooded

pussy unbarred

fist’s tight bud

diaspora’s salvo

confetti of sparks

igniting a viral riot

a chorused blaze of heat

and fire rising fierce

against the silence