12.
Violence as purification.
The one idea.
One massacre great enough to undo another.
One last ditch operation to solve
the problem of the old operation that was bungled.
Look, I have lain on their tables under their tools,
under their drugs.
From the center of my body a voice
bursts against these methods.
Wherever you made a mistake.
Batter with radiation, defoliate, cut away.
And yes, there are merciful debridements.
But burns turn into rotting flesh for reasons
of vengeance and neglect.
I have been too close to septic too many times
to play with either violence or non-violence.