Revolutionary Letter #48
Be careful.
With what relief do we fall back on
the tale, so often told in revolutions
that now we must
organize, obey the rules, so that later
we can be free. It is the point
at which the revolution stops. To be carried forward
later & in another country, this is
the pattern, but we can
break the pattern
learn now we see
with all our skin, smell with our eyes too
sense & sex are boundless & the call
is to be boundless in them, make the joy now, that we want, no shape
for space & time now but the shapes we will
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 died in 2020. (This poem appeared originally in di Prima's Revolutionary Letters. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Publishers.)