The Devil’s Jurisprudence

  • by Jeff Woodke

    • The Devil’s Jurisprudence

    Tighter.
    He cinched the chains on my ankles down.
    Squeezing hope from my veins in purple bruises that wept red.
    I could only cry “Why, why, why!” To him, empathy was toxic.
    “Abomination!” he called me, saying I was hated by god.
    “Only god’s government is right! We will have it at all cost” he cried.
    His jaw set firm in a contour justified by theocracy and scripture lines.
    I’d been kidnapped, trafficked, tortured, beaten and abused.
    His crimes of every sort he excused;
    For they were done in service of his politics and faith.
    In pursuit of making his nation great.
    I groaned under the pain of his words.
    “America has done worse to us!” he screamed at my agony.
    Justifying his sins of the present,
    By those of others in the past.
    This is dark law, the Devil’s jurisprudence.
    Shadow steals the light, or tries to at least.
    You may say “It’s not like that here!”
    Blaming my PTSD.
    I say “Different place, same world.”
    Blaming my god who, through suffering,
    Taught me to see.

    Jw, McKinleyville, 3/21/25

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