Portside

My California

By Beau Beausoleil

The day

shapes

itself

with

lunar

light

and

the

close

dreams

gathered

from

those

waking

in sorrow

and up

the

coast

more

lives

are

cut

like

flowers

and left

to bleed

their

beauty

into

tears

My

country

has a

second

flag

now fully

unfurled

and visible

made up

of guns

and hate

Beau Beausoleil is a poet and activist (Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here) and is the author of 15 books of poetry. Forthcoming is a limited edition chapbook of poems called The Killing of George Floyd -Intermittent Press 2023.