Tonight's Poet Corner: Slacktivist

Slacktivist
by Belinda Roddie

Another petition signed,
imbibing cider by the laptop.
Too afraid to go outside,
instead hoping that the men in suits
will choke on their own neckties upon
seeing such a slew of people
demanding that a prisoner go free
through an online website.

People say I don't help enough -
the truth is, I'm scared.
Scared of being seen or heard
away from a computer screen.
Worried I'll be shot through my
sign straight into my skull, a perfect
o in the middle of Peace.

Scared that somehow, in a cell
after being a true activist, hosed down,
cuffed, slammed into the asphalt, ankles
torn by dog's teeth,
nothing I have done will create even an echo
in the vast space of time.