Complicity

You can’t all be criminals, can you?
Not by definition. But you can always
Be complicit. Complicity’s always possible

For anyone, for everyone. It’s severely
Democratic. (We might have added also
Ruthlessly, but that’s too purely criminal.)

There’s no end to complicity, no
Ruling out complicit. You may aspire
To righteousness, but righteousness,

Especially, has always been complicit.
The Chinese word for poetry, the Japanese
Word for death, when transliterated

Into a Latin alphabet, can both be
Written shi. Imagine poetry’s the original
Sin and then death arrives, complicitly.

Or death’s your criminal, unforgivable,
But poetry’s complicitous. Either way,
Every word’s suspicious, none of us guilt-free.

If you’re not on the side of the angels, then
You’re complicit. And when your angels
Have fallen, criminals, it’s too late to pivot.