6.4 Shield of Zero

by Eric Chaet

March in night
bearing shield
of zero
sing beneath
catenary-strung
power pylons,
to stars,
again,
with throat
of dismay.

Deploy shield
of deeds
of obscured
heroes
like frozen
breath
or kids’
imagined
arrangements
for protection
in the eye
of the stampede
for advantage,
safety,
respectability.

Peering from among surveillance cameras
& screens programmed to sell
seek saplings, a rabbit, maybe a coherent path.

Can you love even those who,
thinking they’re shrewd,
sacrifice themselves—in fear, greed, secret—
for what they feel they need—
& would sacrifice you, too?

Can you find a way to salvage enough of what’s been wrecked
while your suggestions were laughingly or angrily dismissed?

Can you extract & re-deploy your battered purpose,
amidst the mutually-acclaimed triumphs
of those who won’t consider or care
unless they’re next to be discarded or harvested?

Can you forgive yourself
for having acted or being unable to act
based on the incomplete & distorted information
fed you before you knew how to feed yourself,
& for being less certain
than hypnotized & desperately self-hypnotized
drones, zealots, celebrants?

Can you continue to know what you’ve learned
without fainting?
Can you put what you know to the use that you choose?

March in night again bearing shield of zero.

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Picture: Giacometti