Resident

Predator and prey
The wolf grinds its steel teeth
In a false twilight, the night came so long ago: When children were domesticated and caged in white rooms
A helpless herd to wringing hands.

His back dented with high-heels, cleaved into the meat of his shoulders
Breast-fed toxic waste, the umbilical noose
Born into death, neglected battered and wasting away.

Fight or flight is only in open air
Fright and flight on the inside.

So many hands eager to hold you down, often until your breathing will cease
Your cries heard by deaf ears just as the walls of concrete
Profit maker. Human livestock. Misery harvest
Bow to our monetary god, Child servant.

Broken beaten and scarred
You sleep under the watchful eye of strangers
Profit off of your tiny back. Paying the bills of philanthropists
Your wretched reality
There is no one in whom you believe
Your god is your own
Now I will tuck you into sleep.