Monster.
Animal.
Inhuman.
These are the things
we say about those
who commit heinous acts.
We distance ourselves
We assure ourselves
… that couldn’t be us
that isn’t anyone I know
Until it is someone we know
until it is us.
And then they aren’t monsters anymore.
Savage
Animal
Subhuman
This is what the civilized said
and say
about those whose land
and bodies
they wanted.
Make them inhuman
Justify the monstrous human.