of old who exposed 

our roots to lay bare core 

human D N A 

 

that may easily portray 

nauseous, vile behaviors. 

 

Hominid power 

in the earliest hours 

of evolution 

 

of humans rests best in strong 

male prowess, but, then there was 

 

the female power 

to birth the Earth with new life 

impossible for 

 

males to rival for human 

survival to become us.

 

[Shey]

 

Therefore, you see, we 

are hard wired, authored by 

our D N A, 

 

to live off life we consume. 

We still must compete to eat. 

Predator and prey

frays are overt and subtle 

and quite pervasive 

 

to exert massive pressure 

to gain and assert power, 

 

both personally 

and collectively throughout 

all society. 

 

Hence the need for me to grow 

my personal power used 

 

to defuse misused 

power by shady others. 

Hunger and sex are 

 

simple enough drives that can’t 

be denied nor ignored with 

 

effects that may cause 

reactions complex and grim 

from troublesome to 

 

villainous to harm the heart 

or a limb if jealousy 

 

or narcissism 

enters the play for mating 

to become more of 

the predatory-prey-fray 

to dominate and end choice. 

 

What complicates fates 

are experience and age 

that sets the stage for 

 

learning to cope with the scope 

of adulthood’s diverse acts. 

 

Wet dreams, I perceive 

to be one of Nature’s schemes 

that’s essentially 

 

paired vitally to female 

mensural cycle onset.

 

Young children must be 

protected and fair statesmen 

elected; laws passed.

 

[Jill]

 

I know Shey. She’s passionate 

when she augments the first phase 

 

of Justice to start 

to incarcerate, fine, or 

set detainees free. 

She fights crime with a vengeance 

as she begins the sequence 

 

to investigate 

incorrect acts that smack of 

willful ignorance 

 

that threatens social balance 

between education and 

 

naïveté to 

fray delicate harmony 

guiding our young 

 

to become their best placement 

in the chorus to advance 

 

levels beyond sounds 

that astound the ears with noise —

unbounded chaos.

 

[Collin]

 

But Justice is not revenge 

and revenge is not vengeance.

 

While both depict 

strong  emotions, courts of law 

balk at revenge quests. 

 

Our legal system rests 

on the principle that it’s 

best to resolve blood 

feuds with fair reparation 

to defuse further 

 

blood loss as compensation 

for injurious acts that 

 

ransack citizens’ 

attempt to live peacefully. 

Laws aren’t scrawled but penned 

 

deliberately with more 

forethought brought to bare upon 

 

governance’s quest 

to contend with vendettas 

or usurpations 

 

of each individual’s 

right to life and liberty 

 

and to be able 

to speak freely, openly 

their thoughts, appraisals 

 

and discontent of dismal 

acts from narcissism’s fat 

self-absorbed egos 

engorged with abysmal self 

importance. Thus laws 

 

fall more under protection 

as the core chore to prevent 

 

more harm to the peace 

that is the essential charm 

found in harmony. 

 

[Shey]

 

“Get even” is the heart of 

revenge with a tinge, “Plus one,” 

 

that hinges on strong 

levels of resolve to win. 

Getting even is 

 

intrinsically very 

personal whereas Collin 

 

rightly stresses that 

laws defend social order 

that’s not personal 

 

but cultural and global. 

Defense on the street is raw 

emotion with much 

commotion unfettered by 

courtroom procedures 

 

that features strict rules enforced 

by the gavel and bailiffs  

 

that lifts disorder 

out of the brutality 

of might-makes-right frays 

 

of predator/prey vengeance.

My resolve feeds my vengeance

 

in increments that 

must surpass and outlast that 

of the predator’s 

 

bold, brash disdain to restrain 

the self from aggressive acts 

 

to extract any 

and every desired

person, place or thing.