by Rick Mullin
The civil war that everybody fears
will one day bring our guns into the street
has been a virtual reality for years.
We are many battles in, replete
with bloodless disestablishment of norms
equating to the end-stop of a dream,
the downfall of democracy and state.
On Facebook, nobody can hear you scream.
It’s harmless when a friend posts, “Feel the hate”.
We laugh and like it and the hatred storms.
But this year the Epiphany may yield
at last that dreaded outcome, civil war
with something like real armies in the field
and abject treason on the Senate floor.
With carnage in its more familiar forms.