January 2026

not only would he not save us     he would not save himself to save us the effort     he would not care for our survival     even if his survival depended on it     he would not put out a fire if the fire might burn also the neighbors he wanted not to have     he would not remember how we scraped by     how we scrape     he would not countenance emotion     or breath     how we needed it     how they did too     he would not not scorn us     he would not dampen his enthusiasm for hatred     he wanted us different     he pretended     he commented on our unexpected strength