Their tactic isn’t new but it’s so effective:
get you wound up with your jaw on the floor
with a brand-new audacious offense, just so
they can slip in the hook while your mouth is open
and then when you think you might die, sucked into
a dark world of rage, fever dreams of revenge
they can slip you the pill of relief, give you back
some small sense of security, a fragment of
what you already had but this time you’ll be grateful
and you will go anywhere willingly now ‘cuz
it’s so much better than before.