(2025)

 The first thing too many people

Sacrifice on the altar of fear

To ward off cognitive dissonance 

Seems to be nuance—

There are other burnt offerings

Acrid on the breeze,

But this one turns friends to demons,

A simplicity that is doomed to failure.

I gather the tallow you left behind

Piecing together from cobbled bits 

A candle to light my way,

To lift the smallest darkness—

Hoping with every step

This forbidden light

Does not offend

So to render me also

To soap for your hands.