Terror

Your poetry is much more confrontational recently, and whilst I know that sounds like a pretty perverse, obtuse thing to say, you still haven't lost your voice, and I admire how effortlessly you are embodying your poetry with rage. The personification of terror as the police force is apt, and you have managed to create some shocking descriptions:

'distrust taints the city
streets like uncontained
sewage.'

I adore this! And whilst I am not a massive fan of hyperbole in poetry, the below:

'Terror is a SWAT truck
not afraid to knock over
peaceful citizens,'

I feel 'knock over' is way too innocent. I can accidentally knock over a fence. It doesn't tell the truth. There is a blatant disregard for every human who protests peacefully, and this poem should highlight this at every opportunity.

The same goes for:

'trapping
them in alleyways'

Trapping could be stronger. Cornering? Through the majority of this piece, I feel the anguish, but it occasionally falters.

'We won't forgive you.'

The isolation of this is brutally effective. As is the description of their rage as 'grotesque'. You're right. It's barbaric.

The ending of the poem is also interesting. You don't want to see eye to eye, you want to look down upon them as they are looking down on you now. This is no longer about equality, it's about justice.

Keep writing these, Maryanne. They are powerful pieces.