La Révolution Américaine
by David Osnoe

The crowded gallery brims
with warm energy-
small nervous exchanges
of smiles & handshakes,
the scene is reminiscent
of the Parisian underground.

Pops- an older, houseless man
wears his friendly grin
& greets his brothers & sisters
with love.

An elderly couple,
dressed warmly & holding hands
squeeze down the quickly filling
aisle. I stand alone

in the back of the room as
the white-haired woman’s eyes
wrapped in tissue-paper wrinkles
flash sky-blue in my direction & I nod

in deference. My nose fills
with the dense odors of pressed bodies
& cigarette smoke. I turn to face

the projection screen,
watching the conversations of strangers.

Hemp oil rising to my nose-
it has been rubbed into the dreadlocks
of the slight, pale skinned girl
who sits beside her husband-
both of them clad in skinny jeans
& vintage 1940’s accessories.

Lights
dim & the documentary begins:
All Night, All Day-
the story of the seven week old
Richmond Occupation.

I see this
film mirrored in the flashes
of NY police batons raised over
plastic riot shields, in the screams
of UC Davis students sprayed with chemicals
& the heavy intonation, the heartbeat
of hope struggling against violence-

I let history quietly whisper
into my reddened earlobes
& blink back refracting tears
against the flashing of the projected future:
here, nestled in Virginia’s bosom,
revolution stirs.

La Révolution Américaine – David Osnoe

David Osnoe is a Richmond, VA based writer who will be graduating from VCU in 2012 with a BA in English. He joined the Richmond Occupation on November 1st, after his friend was arrested and the Kanawha Plaza encampment was destroyed. One of the successes of the Occupation is its inclusive acceptance of a variety of skills, talents and voices and that is partially what inspired La Revolution Americaine.