Once they made a Congo line....
Odd, it seems the Congo has
made its presence known again,
maintained significance.

Dialing for dollars they
chat—conversing? trespassing?
Aim I do not, cannot, know.
Nine: four from Africa,

Six in 404 error
zone central to deep South sun.
December into such a
cold, cold February.

Accidentally, they
invited me. I declined
but tuned in to frequency
of deepest deception.

*

Peddlers of privacies once
illegally obtained meet
to disperse pure profits gained
off harm of innocence.

Greedy, they create even
more sensation through drama
that wasn't real. People pray,
then pay to prey on her—

A feeding frenzy, lust
not for life but death to it.
They do it for no reason
at all except empty

That comes from failure to
look within for source of life.
So they reject it outright
and then objectify.

*

Entrap, ensnare, recruit.
This is how they boot the ball
from one court to another,
relying on need to

Belong, have tried and true
community and also
immunity for life, plus
riches galore for sure.

They plant seedlings of doubt
and stomp out the sprout of love,
insisting instead on what
they call loyalty, which

Is to say compliance.
Slowly, surely eroding
one's self-reliance until
the viscious vice snaps shut.