[i am total love, i am total hate]

speaking without anger to the god of

twisted metal saying

no child deserves this and

never getting an answer

 

speaking without anger when

anger is all that will save you and

always knowing that violence is inevitable

 

knowing that your job has no meaning

 

that your house is falling down

while you sleep

and the ground leaking poison into

the baby's dreams

 

a thirteen year-old girl at the other

end of the street filled with cancer

 

a fourteen year old girl across town

 

and the factories were promises on fire

and when the smoke cleared

we held nothing but lies

 

the old women kept their statues

of the virgin mary in their front yards

and the neighborhood dogs shit on them

and listen

 

nothing is what you have and

nothing is who you are

and every day is defined by either

relentless heat or dirty rain

 

the war can never be won if all we fight

are men more than willing to die

 

i will sleep better at night

having taught my sons to be afraid