And So Many Are Dear

When you’re called,
you go, Sesshu says. 
But I’m afraid
I won’t go far enough
to stop them
even though
people are dying.
And even though
people are dying,
I remain 
Chicana, a woman 
who won’t keep
this mouth, 
or the other, shut.
So should I
get out of bed  
to write?
Does what I
write matter?
Sesshu says: reread 
Oscar Zeta Acosta’s 
The Revolt of the Cockroach People.
Then I remember:
when you’re
called,
you go.