Decency Doesn’t Scale

Ordinary interactions
People have are mostly friendly,
And what quarrels there are, are theirs,

But things can catch fire so quickly—
Think of Kepler’s mother, brassy
Provincial woman who was tied

To an allegorical witch
In her son’s own book attempting
To render understandable

The world of new astronomy
To a general readership.
The general readership pounced

On the allegory to claim
Kepler’s mother was a real witch,
The kind who should burn at the stake.

The smallest local politics
Of who likes who in a small town
Serve tinder for the cruelty

Of the larger society,
And so history’s a record
Of fiery inequality,

Injustice, the imposition
Of powerful violence
To crush the unfortunate meek,

While, day-to-day, conversations
Between humans are mostly bland,
Even kind, small trouble in mind.