Photography © Chad Parenteau

 

Occupy Forever
For Blaine Hebbel

Protesters continue their action
the American Voices captured

Laconic words factored
the lengthy rants rapture.

When activists occupied Dewey Square
It’s when you left your mark there.

Never silenced into muck
by police or garbage trucks.

The occupoets organized,
rhymes, reasons against lies

shouted out in today’s times
truth for all, still hard to find.

As is counting the rings within your bones
the careful aging of factual tones

like the music which permeates your poems
has a chance far better than the lone

percent rate, vs. the other 98
surely off—that’s for damn straight

 

Timothy Gager has published sixteen books of fiction and poetry. His latest, 2020 Poems, is his ninth book of poetry and was a number 1 Best Selling Poetry book on Amazon. Timothy hosted the successful Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 2001 to 2018, and as a virtual series starting in 2020. He has had one thousand works of fiction and poetry published, of which seventeen have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work also has been nominated for a Massachusetts Book Award, The Best of the Web, The Best Small Fictions Anthology and has been read on National Public Radio.

Blaine Hebbel (1952-2021) was a poet, publisher and organizer. The author of two chapbooks (Poems From the Shore and The Occupy Poems), his work was also published in Poesis, Zig Zag Folios, Firehouse, Bagels with the Bards, and has work forthcoming in the Reimagine America anthology from Vagabond Press next year. In 2013, he founded Ring of Bone Press, which published two anthologies: Wild Women of Lynn and Madmen of Lynn. For years, he also organized the Celebration of the American Voice spoken word series in his hometown of Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Chad Parenteau is Associate Editor of Oddball Magazine.