Social Darwinism
How we fight each other
in the marketplace of scarce resources
come scarcer
How I remember the claws of a rooster
flapping his wings
protecting his flock of unfed hens
so starving they'd eat their own eggs
His claws scratches my legs
The wings flapped and air
moved around him
like a small storm
I was so young

Today, working in a place
that's like a rock offshore where thousands have been
washed away, and drowned
and we are still there on those small slippery
places trying to do our jobs
and not get knocked off
by a passing wave
or a rude shove of desperation as someone falls

Invisible demons
Rumors and gossip drive this place
Men, not women, rule it
Impatient men who are scared for themselves
on the higher rocks
still feeling the spray
watching the struggling toil of those below
and turning inward to their own sadness and fear

All there is, the only safe place
can be inside
and yet for me it's not there either
An attack comes and part of me takes that side
A being eating itself, destroying itself
Thinking at the same time that this will solve the problem
If only enough flesh can be cut, if only enough suffering
can be wrought
I will be purged of these feelings