braces

by Bella Blue, 12th
Tied up in streets / in the glittery cement
some would say / revolution
but this word means little with
all this gore / all this spectacle / all these bleeding gums / lost autonomies of bodies, who
have seemingly left
their humanity, steaming from the gutters like
muggy laundry, hanging between brick.
Sometimes it's like Oakland has 3000
buildings, for sharp teeth.
retrofitting cavities,
no earthquake can dismantle gentrification / can always dismantle a family.
Our brains,
like wet noodles
the antithesis of control / we take ourselves on walks /
we eat at the checkered diner / we pay our taxes
and watch it launder.
In this walk of life,
we must think of the heart as
a whirlpool. Of a city as a stomach.
In this walk of life, all shoes burn
the same pavement,
​all rubber.