the neo-Nazis march across the map
three dozen red icons from the Washington
Monument to the Capitol Building
on a good day I can see the Monument
from my own building
uphill looking down at the obelisk
some 25 blocks away
today is not a good day
nor is it a surprise
the mayor begging residents to stay inside
some of them got into the Capitol
I pace within my shoebox apartment
giving up all pretense of telework
because no one else is working now either
West Coast friends text me Parler screenshots
it takes 45 minutes for my phone to receive
the emergency alert after the mayor declares a curfew
but it works
and most rioters livestream back to their hotels
drunk on bravado and Yuengling
the night quiets down and I sigh
I thought there would be bodies and
bloodied MAGA hats
all over the limestone steps
About the author: Kate Pashby (they/them) is a queer Mexican American poet from San Jose, California who resides in Washington, DC. Their work has been published or is forthcoming in Lonely Cryptid Media's Resist with Every Inch and Every Breath, The North Meridian Review, Wising Up's Flip Sides Anthology, subTerrain Magazine, Rabid Oak, and many others. Kate was nominated for Best of the Net 2020.