The words on the door said

Only rule: Don’t sit with sinners

And it was a room without chairs

Just a room full of people

Thousands pointing at each other

Arms tired

Fingers bloodied and raw

Stitching scarlet letters

Onto wrinkled, worried foreheads

Everyone wore one

None could read their own

They called it justice

But it sounded like hunger

Like the need to chew

Before being chewed

Because in this room

Difference is a threat

Mistakes are contagious

Nuance is witchcraft

And mercy…

Mercy is suspicious

Mercy looks like the enemy

Mercy gets you stared at

So mercy waits…

In a room without chairs

Where violence feels peaceful

Where voices sound like static

For that one person

Who sits anyway

On the floor

And says

That first rule

Is dumb