The Interior Life (a poem)

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We project evil
  onto inanimate objects
  and that which is beyond our understanding.
We project evil
  onto peoples, places, and circumstances
  that don’t fit into our convenient categories and tidy boxes.
We project evil
  convincing ourselves we can see it coming
  in order to protect me and you.
We project evil
  hoping to identify it out there, somewhere,
  without realizing its presence within self.
We project evil
  a failure to acknowledge it dwelling inside
  allowing it to parade about about as personal piety.
We project evil
  while claiming righteousness,
  a righteousness which strangely, coincidentally looks like us and our desires.
We project evil
  in an effort to avoid confessing our duplicity,
  the both/and of our own interior life.
  — bshivers

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