life is ...
          strangled

much is laid out
          to shuck 'stragglers'
               and fetter the 'off kilter'

passive weeding ?
               or bleeding with medicinal leeches ?

there is a structure facing inward
people making unkind demands of one another
a fussing
a fusing of their time made 'important'
a holding bond
   alluring and repulsing
                  maintaining a close hovering gap
in the name of a darkly compromised species dream