engulfed in your watery prison of quiet desperation

Step lightly, doll, the heels of your shoes are missing,
the ice is black and slippery, the streets have no names,
the boulevard is busy and you have nowhere to go.

Short sleeved with barely a winter coat you shiver
as you make your way to the church with
Mussolini on the ceiling, Adam and Eve wearing their
grape leaves, the Pope on high above his
confused disciples and all the vestal virgins surrounding
Mary in her angelic repose.

We pray to your Lord to take you gently, effortlessly
in the night. We turn to shake the hands of our neighbors
in the pews in front and behind. We watch you shuffle up
to take your communion wafer, mouth the words of a prayer
you no longer recognize. Still you are there, you are here among
us, your little abominations.

you hate like no one before you.
you excel in the discipline
as if racism and homophobia are lines of reasoning
like cognitive science.
how dare you take over my country
with your white supremacy, your venomous attacks,
your vitriole and your slander.
how dare you instigate right wing militias and foment terror.
how dare you recruit our vulnerable soldiers by
justifying the murder of fundamentalists like you
in the name of the rapture.
and how dare you abduct our children
with your pseudo pop culture rock concerts in Philadelphia,
your propagandist films and your bible belt weekends where you
convince them nothing else matters, not their lives, their love,
their families, their country or their futures.
how dare you.

 - inspired by the documentary SILHOUETTE CITY