When You Divide A Circle you Are Praying Poem by Francis Poole

Years ago when
I thought I had something to say
I had to try to excoriate,
denigrate others first.
Competition competition me first you last
but I was never good at making the moves
needed to knife fight,
though I did once pull a knife on someone.
It was really over nothing just
two teenage boys pushing
each other.
I survived
because he called my bluff
and I threw the knife away
and turned around
and ran home
without a scratch.
It occurred to me much later
that the main reason I pulled the knife
was to feel what it was like
to threaten someone with
grievous injury or death.
Being a pacifist by nature with
a good measure of itinerancy
and indolence
it now seems like
too much aggression
for dubious gains
to engage in deadly conflict
with another human being
over supposed cowardice
though I showed myself
I could pull a knife
on someone
in the right situation.