“Why Isn't It All More Marked?

Why isn’t it all
more marked,
why isn’t every wall
graffitied, every park tree
stripped like the
stark limbs
in the house of
the chimpanzees?
Why is there bark
Left? Why do people
Cling to their
Shortening shrifts? So
Silent.
Not why people are;
Why not more violent?
We must be
So absorbent.
We must be
Almost crystals
Almost all some
Neutralizing chemical
That really does
Clarify and bring peace,
Take black sorrow
and make surcease”