Bastille Day

Not wanting to deny, I
believed it.  Not wanting
to believe it I denied
our Bastille Day.  This,
is nothing to srtorm.  This
fourteenth of July.  With
my own eyes, I saw the fierce
criminal passing for citizen
with a weapon, a piece of wood
and five for one.  We laugh
Bastille laughter.  These are
not men of death.  A pot
of rice is their foul reward.

I have at last started
To understand the origin
of our vileness, and being
unable to deny it, I suggest
its nativity.
In the shame of knowledge
of our vileness, we shall fight.

Martin Carter, ‘Bastille Day – Georgetown’