Normal is a Cage, Too Small

They want things to return to normal
but normal is a cage too small.
They want the "peace" of Our absence
but that's no peace, at all.
They want a compliance, an acquiescence
they want the obedience of adolescents
they want to bully and silence and demand.

But, no.
Hell, no!
We will not quietly surrender, we will NOT be banned.
We'll take a stand -
metaphorically or otherwise -
and we'll make a plan with our own demands.

And this is the demand
(or at least, the beginning of our demands):

We will work hard and
we will take part in communing
and any who are refusing that Great Including,
they will be the ones losing out
they will be the ones banned by their own sad plans
to choose a world that is smaller and more plain
to live in a place with less grace
less joy, less love, less sane and humane

But
the Beloved Community,
the Beloved Economy,
the beloved home
of inclusion and diversity and equity...?
We will rise and we will live and we will swarm.

That is our future.
This is the new norm.