Responsibility

The extreme violence
Humans visit on each
Other—cruel, exact,

Deliberately more
Than death or victory—
Torture, dismemberment

While alive, strategized
To inflict the most pain
And humiliation

Possible before death
And then, often as not,
To try to shame the corpse—

Hacked to pieces, trophies,
Heads on pikes. You do this,
If not personally—

Some member of your group,
Some cousin, ancestor,
Your government, police.

Humans torture humans—
Not every day, not all
Humans all of the time,

But the capacity
Lurks in every village,
Every church or kin group,

To inflict, to exploit
The terror, pain, terror
Of pain life gifted all

Lives, including humans,
Including torturers.
We are words. We are not

Only not innocent.
We know we bear the most
Responsibility.