the first acceptable protest
happened in the last square meter of demilitarized terrain
between the Boston Common Presented in Partnership with Dunkin
and the Xfinity Gardens.
the lone demonstrator
had been raised in a mountain cabin
dressed in zero-waste clothing
eating compost-grown produce
reading nothing save Maya Angelou
and James Baldwin (but none of the commie stuff)
and every religious text
of every world religion.
the protest consisted
solely
of the ASL sign for “please”
a non-threatening hand, palm inward, fingers together,
moved in a circle over the chest,
first to the left (but not for very long; not in a way that would threaten anyone)
then down, then right, then up.
no traffic was obstructed,
no windows broken,
no noise made,
no cause excluded,
no pollution generated,
no officials challenged,
no policies demanded,
no coalitions formed.
when a police cruiser backed into the lone demonstrator (en route to answer another call)
the consensus was that the lone demonstrator
raised to be blameless, spotless, faultless,
all vectors of justice, real and hypothetical,
converging from past and future,
in the form of a single person,
without vice or failing or want,
had certainly done nothing to provoke such a response.
“unfortunate” was the verdict.
“violence breaks out” read the headline.
