Empty ChairsWhen the Nobel Prize was awarded to that Chinese writer
who was detained /imprisoned for nine years for his writings
an empty chair symbolized lack of freedom for artists in China
We have a large table of absent activists in Austin-
more if you augment with the names of those you remember-
A chair for Albert Huffstickler (poet of Hyde Park)(gone from us
Another for Deb Akers(APS,AIPF,Borderlands,Book Women,Share Yr Stories etc etc)
Susan Bright(publisher(Plain View Press),poet,activist,saved trees around Barton Springs etc etc
Dr Marvin Kimbrough(Catfish Poets,Huston-Tillotson poets etc etc)
Honoring our ancestors is as important as remembering their qualities of character
We all know different souls who gave their all to spark life in this little village
Banquo's ghosts include Byron and Nathaniel(murdered by APD)
So many empty chairs-for chopped trees,fluoridated water,free speech denied
Chairs for those of OCCUPY evicted from our City Plaza
A chair for every part of you that wishes to make Austin better
Should we seek to fill them-with warm and loving souls
or should we get used to empty chairs/diminished expectations
eternal gridlock-a town of activist ghosts?
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