Such an absolute label as evil
is not easily shrunk to a lesser
form of moral calculus tallying
one horrendous act to another

No, evil comes at us when turned
away and gets us in in the back
and before we can turn in time
it has us exactly where it wants

And wants and wants excruciating
predicament of nutcase violation
and, oh, so rational perpetration
oh, yes, perpetrators up and down

And all around choose this or that
when this is a madman narcissist
acting out and that is calculated
rational road to global world war.

 

James Van Looy has been a fixture in Boston’s poetry venues since the 1970s. He is a member of Cosmic Spelunker Theater and has run poetry workshops for Boston area homeless people at Pine Street Inn and St. Francis House since 1992. Van Looy leads the Labyrinth Creative Movement Workshop, which his Labyrinth titled poems are based on. His work appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.