#NationalPoetryMonth 6/30

Everytime you pick the spot for a be-in
a demonstration, a march, a rally, you are choosing
the ground for a potential battle.
You are still calling these shots.
Pick your terrain with that in mind.

from “REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #8”

Today’s read: Revolutionary Letters by Diane di Prima – City Lights Books – 1974

I am sure that Barb found this copy in a used book store or library sale. It is a pristine first edition complete with a Review Copy from City Lights’s old publishing house address.

Like reading Roque Dalton, these poems have a whole new meaning in this time of pandemic. I am reading through these instructions to survive and organize in crisis and feel that these are not metaphors or allegory. What do you do when the government is neglecting you while simultaneously lying to you. You rally and you make a choice for yourself on what you will fight for.