goddamn you vampires in poetry

you can’t stop violence
with even more violence
any more than you can stop ignorance
with even more ignorance
or darkness with more dark
or water with more water
or blood with more blood
the seas are rising faster
you can’t fight it with a flood
the opposite of war isn’t peace
the opposite of war isn’t creation
the opposite of war is civilization
holding violence back through connection
mutual benefit over natural selection
even all of the very “good” causes
when you back them with violence
they’re corrupted by violence
slayers of great monsters grow
their own fangs along the way
their own claws
their own swords with which to flay
heroes become monsters
each day by bloody day
you can’t stop something
with just more of itself
don’t hand out more
just take it off the shelf