i call it
Violence
to ask that stones
be thrown towards
they who love differently
than me
i call it
Violence
to send 80 busses of
violent Americans
to insurrect on Capitol steps
against free elections
i call it
Violence
to tell young women
they require no degree
but that of “Mrs”
i call it
Violence
to force
the younger still
to carry rapists’ babies
i call it
Violence
to demand
a woman, even a star,
submit
to her future husband
i call it
Violence
to trespass in foreign lands
to tell its people
our violent land
will conquer theirs
i call it
Violence
to mark others
a middle finger unto god
i call it
Violence
to advocate
the murder of
myself and people like me
i call it
Violence
to encourage
bomb threats
to your own ordained
enemy
i call it
Violence
to claim lobotomy
as necessary for an entire
group of people
i call it
Violence
when you label me a groomer
i call it
Violence
when you strip me
of my dignity
to exercise
to use a restroom
to state my name
to present documentation
to travel
to obtain health care
or live in my identity
i call it
Violence
to turn friends to foes
and stoke division
between neighbors
i call it
Violence
when the unknown
man seeks violence
as solution
i called it
Violence
when
another man
brought Minnesota
execution
and yes it’s true
i call it
Violence
too,
when violent men
are snuffed out by
violence
in the men
who they have nurtured
i call it
Violence
when the quick response
is urging
death and war
i call it
Violence
when the
guns outnumber people
i call it
Violence
when they offer naught but
thoughts and prayers
when those guns
increase their number
i call it
Violence
when no public space
is free from the threat of
a bullet
i call it
Violence
when the military
marches on its citizenry
i call it
Violence
when the homeless
are said to be illegal
i call it
Violence
when they dub
our neighbors as
the enemy within
i call it
Violence
when they call
them aliens and
remove them from
my country
i call it
Violence
when you boast
of grabbing women
by the pussy
i call it
Violence
when you silence those
bringing light
to daily cruelty
i call it
Violence
when you
tax the poor
and sack our institutions
i call it
Violence
when you strip us all
the chance to
invoke our constitution
i call it
Violence
when they run to court
to justify their violence
while also stoking
Violence
towards those judges
who might thwart them
i call it
Violence
when to their own
Violence
they show
blindness
i call it
Violence
which infects the heart
of the America
i know
and I wonder why
you call it
Violence
only when
Violence
affects your own