toothpaste and war in poetry

Faith is grief hoarded and weaponized,
laid out for terrible numbing purpose.
Love is knowing pain and
wanting no one else to ever feel that pain again.

Money is fear condensed into matter,
we’re all so afraid of not having and
these are the receipts for our terror.

Of course Athena was the goddess of defensive war.
Wisdom is always besieged at all sides by those
who think cruelty’s the new way to win.
It’s the oldest way to win
it has been effective from the start
it has been wrong since the start.

Fear anger and resentment
all sell you the same gasoline
toothpaste and war.
Rational hope, though
is a revolutionary act.
Hope is subversive.
Hoping
not having faith
not being certain
not being afraid
not being fooled into thinking you’re sure
not fooling others into thinking you’re sure
hope
they don’t want you to really truly hope
there’s no money in it.