POEM: Picket Fences

More people are imprisoned
By picket fences
Than steel bars
Sometimes by splinters
Sometimes by stakes
Through the
Lonely in the end
To come home

of white picket fences have waylayed many more lives than prisons or jails.  The temptations of desperation and criminality that lead to are much more easily identified, and such temptations have obvious negative societal reactions that help keep them in check.  The temptations of and comfort are much more subtle, and even more pervasive.  The structure and mores of reinforce, even laud, such temptations.  The fact that the where “ is good” can persist at all is the best evidence for the backwardness of , capitalistic folks have commented that the greatest accomplishment of the devil is to convince you that he doesn't exist.  This is a stunning metaphor for recognizing the powerful human tendency to downplay, ignore, or even lift to the highest value, our dark side.  Only by a steady of our dark side, and a commitment to an equal for ourselves and others, can we hold in check our baser instincts.  Of course, wrapping our most base instincts in of white picket fences may pass for civilization, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. The sadness and reflected in this poem is about the all-too-common that chasing our may leave us feeling alone, even in our house.  May you set your eyes and upon the finest things in , and wherever this leads you, may you feel at home.

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