always like that
when berkeley students rise up
or when berkeley burglars get caught

militarization of police

last fall we had a humvee on my street
and gizzillion officers
of PEACE!
chasing a poor guy
who tried to rob
the laundromat

for you have got to be poor
and pretty darn desperate
to rob the only lonely shop
that was open on that early morning

I never knew if he was caught
but at least berkeley citizens
stood up against the
insult
of tankers in our streets

today, the hunt was
a success

I have never ever been
so glad to see
a black person

in handcuffs
and

not
dead

not
on the ground

not
in a bag

they say he was armed
they chased him all the way from oakland
and arrested him in the park
just around the corner

next to the squiggly structure
my girl used to climb
when she was little