People's Tribune: Here Come

Refusing to listen 
to the "violence" of opposing—
or even complementary—viewpoints,
Soapbox revolutionaries
     (AKA Coffee shop revolutionaries,
     though they can be found in all kinds of spaces)
Would rather speak
than listen
would rather critique 
than envision
would rather break coalitions
than build them
through whispers in the halls
or electronic mail filling your in-box
or through looser words at the bar—
their ground—
where the Revolution will surely begin
because
we all know
that jealousy and hypocrisy 
(like power and privilege
like knowledge [or lack of it]
like money
and, of course,)
like vodka
can do crazy things.

Soapbox revolutionaries— 
Red, black, white, yellow, brown, and green—
often travel in pairs
or in packs
parroting and pigeon-holing
patronizing and pedantic
putting theory into pissing contests
instead of practice.
Their arsenal—
equipped with insults
and vulgar—they say Marxism—
but often only vulgar,
Revolutionary 
shit.

     (Because, they say,
     if you're a revolutionary
     you're a revolutionary
     even when
     You're shitting.)

Spouting quotes
as if their words were bullets or balloons
instead of rubber balls.
They shout louder—
as if stinging eardrums
could stir dormant souls
into some kind of frenzy
or submission
or extinction
(depending upon their audience).

Encapsulated in jargon-laden armor,
armed with a double-edged ego,
Soapbox revolutionaries can't be pierced
by any pre-conceived enemy:
"ignorant white pieces of pig shit"
(because they're all blindly controlling)
or women
(because they make a damn good cup of coffee)
or queers,
(because they don't want to fuck you either)
regardless of color—
they are only quiet quotables,

     (Lip service—
     [lips smacking, waxing poetic]
     they quote out of context
     in their context
     reducing their message
     to soapbox dialectics.)

hijacked words
from bodies 
with important lived realities
from minds full of
insightful, compassionate, deeply revolutionary theories
from coalitions that cross
false binaries and forbidden boundaries—
blurring and burning
re-thinking and re-creating
breaking down soap boxes

And building a future
that can't be seen
from the deepest trenches
or the highest perches
but only from the spaces in between
and only with the tools
fashioned from community—for community,
for a shared future,
for critical, compassionate consciousness:
coalition
patience
deference
thoughtfulness
humility
and love.

— Sarah Hentges