Portside

are you prepared
to hide someone in your home indefinitely
say, two to six weeks, you going out
for food, etc., so he never
hits the street, to keep your friends away
coolly, so they ask no questions, to nurse
him, or her, as necessary, to know
‘first aid’ and healing (not to freak out
at the sight of torn or half-cooked flesh)
to pass him on at the right time to the next
station, to cross the canadian border, with a child 
so that the three of you
look like one family, no questions asked
or fewer, to stash letters, guns, or bombs
forget about them
till they are called for, to KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT 
not to ‘trust’
even your truelove, that is,
lay no more knowledge on him than he needs
to do his part of it, a kindness
we all must extend to each other in this game

Diane di Prima was a poet and activist noted for her association with the Beat movement. She studied everything, taught everywhere, and knew everyone seeking alternatives to the conformity and oppression of American capitalism. She was one of the Mothers of the Counterculture. She died in 2020. (This poem appeared originally in di Prima's Revolutionary Letters. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Publishers.)