When police opened fire at the labor protest
in Haymarket Square, 11 were killed, including
seven of their own. And then came the clampdown,
which has continued in one way or another
to this day some 140 years later. And we celebrate
May Day, not with tears or rallies or songs
or even courteous but heartfelt letters to the editor
but with picnics and trips to the shopping mall,
where we buy clothes sewn by 12-year-olds
in Chinese sweatshops. It’s time to wake up.
