fingerprint

you think you know me
i’m black i’m white asian latinx
muslim catholic hindu buddhist jewish
man woman straight gay bi transgender
young old able-bodied handicapped
you limit identifiers to fit your excel sheets
to keep me from myself
ourselves from ourselves

yes you have your lists your barcodes
social security numbers and signatures
registration forms and passports
footprints fingerprints retinal scans
usernames and birth certificates
customs officers and ICE too
just in case we or I have snuck
into your precious precinct
crossed some arbitrary border
no squirrel or fox or crow
would recognize

but you don’t know me
i’m feral or revert to wild
when i’m cornered
when your henchmen
tally us with gunshots
as we fill the streets
join our hands so different

fingerprint

overrun your offices
on foot in wheelchairs
restart the printing presses
open the gates and prisons
and take again the deep free
breaths we had been holding
for so long so very long