Genocide Is Not for the Faint of Heart

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As a child, you thought apiary
meant the place they kept gorillas
in the local zoo. But at least you knew

Washington D.C. was not a state.
Geography teachers are always very clear
about this, although they are less clear

about what it means to be a district.
Sunday school taught you to walk
in the state of grace at night, in your dreams

and cotton pajamas. States of denial
you learned about later on, when you learned
about those who do not walk

away from Omelas, while Edward Furlong
reminds us in Terminator II, Judgment Day,
there is no fate but what we make,

even if that means we only make
shitty sequels and Republican governors.
Jeff Goldblum might explain that a butterfly

flapping its wings in Central Park
causes monsoons in Central Asia,
but you know those wings will never

drop bombs like a secular mouth
that uses holy words for
reasons of national security.