If there is to be no rule of law,
perhaps there is to be no police state.
If there is to be no police state,
perhaps there will be no mass incarceration.
If there are to be no police to call,
perhaps there will be community reliance.
Perhaps the community will be laid bare.
Perhaps we will look to each other.
If there are no police to call in
the guns to solve the problems,
if there are to be no guns,
if there is no one to call with guns,
perhaps there will be self-reliance.
Perhaps there will be conflict resolution.
Perhaps we will learn how to solve the problems.
Perhaps conflicts will transform us.
If there is no one who understands government
running the government,
perhaps there is no government.
Perhaps there will be no one paying the arms makers.
If there is no one to take away the guns
from the people who are lawless,
perhaps we will be lawless.
Perhaps laws won’t save us.
This poem was published in Poets Reading the News Feb. 9, 2020
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