Sloganeering

Sloganeering 

The streets packed again with handwritten signs
Like last autumns’s leaves shelved in rain gutters.
Such thin spines. The trees stand like the cops
Standing under the trees, hungry to beat, 
Cuff and tase. This is the minotaur’s maze.
The thread they trusted would lead them back 
Has gone slack. Thousands carry it together
Towards the monster, whose skin poisons the water.
Emergencies belly up like dead fish, flash once
In the indifferent sun, then disappear
Into the internet’s trench, where creatures we
Were never supposed to see swing lanterns
Like a search party. We are each the child 
Just about to be found, who was only hiding.