The Law
By Anne Reiner
For Alex Pretti
we’re all under the same law
Newton’s third
where forces always come in pairs
tear gas roars at
a citizen
a citizen
roars back with an
equal and opposite force
of a protest
a knee pushes against
a neck
a neck
pushes back with an
equal and opposite force
of a movement
an agent of the state shoots
a bullet
a bullet
a bullet
a bullet
a bullet
a bullet
a bullet
a bullet
a bullet
a bullet
• • •
my young son tells me
a ball could pass through a bat
if all the atoms
arranged themselves
with unerring exactness
if we the people
had a rising
that was
atomic
and arranged ourselves
just
so we passed
right through them
a strike without a hit
in our unequal and opposite
reaction
to lay down
the law
Anne Reiner is a writer and biostatistician based in New York City. Visit her website at annereiner.com.
Photo credit: Jay Rembert on Unsplash.
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