Men squat on point of blade forever
                   And time, like razor, snaps shut;
                   Wrong heads and wronged were clipped
                   In Bible years
                   And foreskins fell like Samson's hair
                   Or heads at feet of Robespierre.
                   Less epic times mange man effete:
                   Principals, trimmed and erect,
                   Drop blade that slices memo sheet—
                   Death dealt in small neuroses.

                   Scalped tore tomahawk
                   From red man's hand,
                   Barbered his trees and beavers;
                   Axe that cut ol' Massa's wood split nation,
                   Flashed in Civil War as sabre,
                   Blunted to bayonet,
                   Dulled to letterknife for vet . . .

                   Culture spreads apart
                   Like umbrella knife:
                   Blood runs to brotherhood in Africa,
                   Where cut wrists are rite when crossed;
                   Here, it is done alone
                   While body floats in tepid water
                   Like a fetus.

                   Man cannot live by blade alone
                   And so carves myth:
                   Dangling by single synapse,
                   The sword of Damocles
                   Drops to probe
                   The frontal lobe—
                   A cutting animal.
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