Paper Dolls

Paper Dolls                           3/30/2016

Some want

To cut you in

But most

Will cut you out. 

Thrusting deep

In your back

And staring

As you die. 

Sudden, vicious

Violent and deadly

The rage of hatred

Long taught

And held.

Not the kind of feeling

That I had as a child

When violence

And degradation

Were so far away.

Immune to reason

And sentiment

Cold as ice

And burning in your gut.

Unmoved by kindness

Is the snarling beast

Crazed with fury

And the taste of blood.

We go on

As if nothing happened

Perfectly conditioned

To accept and deny.

Hitting the snooze

Like we just did before

Unable to recognize

Death at the door. 

It is here

Well paid

And over fed

Raping city after city

Empty, vacant and dead.

But none of this is new

And it’s been

A long time coming

Building on the colonies

Long ago established. 

Scrambling over the wall

And roaming in the streets

The bands of marauding demons

Predictable as hell.  

Hear the wailing

And hear the siren call

The innocent blown to pieces

Mopped up and forgotten

For no reason at all.

Hanging over our heads

The heavy new normal

The moment they always wanted

Full, ripe, and deadly.

It is the saddest thing

To watch it all unravel

Designed by evil men

And greased

With piles of money. 

The signs are all here

If you can look up and see

Every warning made

And hanging in the sky.

Shake yourself

And shake others

Awake and aware

If you want to endure

And if you want to survive.