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& to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God—
& to God: asleep as Her children kneel in prayer asking to feel the heat with somebody—
& to prayer thrown up in the heat of night’s eternal summer like hands in surrender—
& to hands & hands & hands determined to stop the heat of an AR-15 rifle making them nobody’s child—
& to the rifle flashing its Second Amendment in line at the club—
community center—
elementary school—
movie theater—
also asking to feel the heat, to dance with somebody who loves—
& to the line of mothers turned rivers by grief of uncertainty—
of waiting for somebody who loves to confirm whether they, like Mary, will outlive their blood—
whether they will toss out or eat the dinner plastic-wrapped & waiting in the microwave—
& to the blood carried off the dance floor & once segregated bathrooms—
blood that can’t be given or received—
blood that must now come from kin that want us dead—
that wanna dance with somebody who loves only the way they do—
& to the dance we do knowing that being alive has a price—
that our joy has a price—
that everything in our bodies, everything our bodies want has a price—
Say you wanna dance until we wake God from this American Dream—
Say you wanna dance until the last song & we begin—
Say you’ll dance with me until we arrive at the door from our suffering—
Say you’ll exit through my mouth or stay with me here, in this moment—
Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.
For Orlando, Florida
