Dance

We met under the midnight shade of the tree. Your heart fluttered in the long line of your neck.

At dawn birds began to sing, squirrels heaped piles of nuts at our feet, and strays howled at the fading moon. But by noon the birds had tired of singing, the squirrels sulked away to hide their nuts, and the strays returned to their alleyways to scrounge for food.

Picnickers snapped pictures with their cell phones. Teens beat their feet against the grass until it became dust. The sweat from their brows pooled and turned the dust into mud. In the mud a pack of boys raped a girl. The police beat people with their shields and batons.The police undressed and danced. The boys picked up their discarded riot gear.

The sun set and the crowd thinned. They returned home to eat dinner and to see if they had made the evening news. Alone and tired from dancing we fell fast asleep.

~for mere

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