Don’t Imagine

Don’t Imagine

don't imagine
cause you had the same teachers
and sang the same songs
in kindergarten......

don't imagine
because
you've shared meals
lots of stories
or holiday cheer and traditions
together.......

don't imagine
cause your friends
family
and lovers
know and share the same names
and bloodlines...........

don't imagine
cause they punch
or read
a time clock 
without going insane
too......

don't imagine
cause they've fixed your engine
your hair
or teeth
without
ripping you off.......

don't imagine
cause they enjoy
the same
amusements.........

don't imagine
cause they send
christmas cards
pay their parking tickets
and shovel
their sidewalks.......

don't imagine
cause they've worked
on the other side
of the assembly line
or the other side
of the check or tab or bill
without
murdering
raping
torturing
that it's not in there
ravenous for provocation
and primed
to be justified

don't imagine
cause they smile and glad-hand
and sometimes cry
at weddings and funerals
that viciousness
claws
and fangs and daggers
aren't hidden
in their closets
handbags
and comments

don't imagine
cause the lion or bear
eats from your hand
at some slight provocation
it won't someday
eviscerate
disembowel you 
feasting on your organs
jaws crushing bone
to lap at your marrow
for no reason at all
when it was already full
from feasting 
from your own
trusting hands

don't imagine
we're very noble savages
cause history shows us 
we're vicious animals too
hair-triggered for transformation
once this dainty thing
called
culture
fails