You Don't Count

[A newer poem]

They never kick the door in
They send an email first
Polite intro
Soft blue logo

A new slogan
Short enough for a bumper sticker
Long enough to hide a warning label
“Together
We’ll be safer”

They pass a rule on Tuesday
You scroll past it on Wednesday
By Friday
It’s an indelible fingerprint

These days
They don’t burn books
They update terms of service
The words still move
They just limp in a different direction

This is how it happens
Not with tanks
But with taps
You trade one little freedom
For a little less fear

This is how it happens
You shrug while the cage is built
Bolt by tiny bolt

They love a good emergency
Storms
Strikes
Strange new sickness
Every crisis a key moment
Every press conference a promise

“We’re only looking for threats”
But the mirror starts to sweat
Your phone learns your heartbeat
Before your mother ever did

They paint new lines on the pavement
Call it progress
Call it pride
Step outside the stripes
Watch how fast the sky gets smaller

Listen
Laws don’t grow teeth overnight
They sharpen them on silence
On the neighbor you didn’t defend
On the joke you swallowed
On the question you almost asked
Then didn’t

Some days
The hymn tastes like metal
The flag hangs heavier than it used to
You mouth the words anyway
Because the cameras are following your lips

And now
Count the cameras on your corner
Count the questions you’ve stopped asking
Count the names you no longer say out loud
Then ask yourself
Who’s doing the counting

And what happens
When they decide
You don’t count at all

©2026 Jon Kinyon

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Thrift Books

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I am an avid reader of mob and true crime novels. This is one of the best I have ever read.” - Amazon review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “What a page turner! This story is an amazing piece of investigative work—both compelling and heartbreaking.” - Amazon review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I’d seen the author’s work in OZY but was blown away by this book. It’s SUCH a great read, written from the heart! Full of interest for those historians of the hippie generation, North Beach, corrupt cops, mobbed up pols, and San Francisco in general. Very well written and paced up to the last pages. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. Buy this book now!” - Amazon review