This undated photo provided by Michael Pretti shows Alex J. Pretti, the man who was shot by a federal officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026.
It’s wintertime in the garden
Jackboots roam the frozen street
Nature sleeps under the soil
Above ground nothing is calm
ICE smashing car windows at will
“Show me your papers” is one demand
Children shielded like shields themselves
Playing out a dead man’s hand
We are swearing
We are shrieking
We are shedding skin
Jackboots in the streets
Where dystopian madness and reality meet.
The frost cracks
Names bleed through the ice
A mother of three, a poet gone,
An ICU nurse at the VA felled in broad daylight
Two lives echoed in chants and candles
The cold streets will not forget.
In the dead of night Whitehouse
The madman amps up his tweets
We are swearing
We are shrieking
We are shedding skin