ad hominem (latin) …
to the man … to the throat
of the man
with slashing claws
& teeth
there is no wisdom
in anger
there is no cause,
sufficient in the world,
to harm your
brother
with school boy words
or otherwise
courtesy bows
in polite circumspection––
is a signal of
civility––
the first glimmer
of character &
respect
that we are here
to learn
from one another––
a welcome respite
from the fatal fantasy
that only one-side
can ever be
right
human kind is dangerously
unwise––
in the beginning
cain killed able
when all the rules &
grand pretensions of
conflict are scraped away,
people attack each other
with their fingernails
amerikan politics
has reached a biting
point––
no reason
no vision
no explication
no tolerance
just loud voices &
thrusting spears––
a masculine habit of
the stone age
just short of hurling
boulders
ad hominem––to the man
too numb
too dumb
too self-bloviating
to feel ashamed