Judge, Lest Ye Be Judged

Nici Beason

Stab your neighbor backed
with forked words, maim you
the pride of a stranger, wield
together a hot serpent’s tongue,
poison inside history books children
read slam doors facing
mirrors that look like yours.
 
Scrape colorful skin-crushed
glass of champion thin ideals
are very easy to break.
Mow perfect lawn, whisper
Brown about the one that moved
next to your door. Feed
on harsh words
until you cannot see
the damned from the accusers.
 
Don’t look in the mirror
the Hounds at your back,
side and front sniffing
out your Jewish grandfather,
the half-black brother you’ve disowned,
the trailer your mother lives in
a prostitute’s perfume in your pants,
in the same-sex partner
you fuck in the dark.
 
Run along the canyon wall,
but don’t look down you,
voices chant your name!
Whirl past clouds of spit
guts twist out shame,
full of rumors needling your heels.
 
On the other side, you faintly seize
the life you chose not to live.