Banish the Sick

The newspaper this morning

said in the headline

Woman tells police she set Homewood blaze

because home ‘filled with demons’

I read the article from top to bottom

above and below the fold

because the headline doesn't tell the woman's view

it tells a distorted tale

it sells an inflated rail

against another sick soul

don't think the person

who sets their demons on fire

is insane simply because

they've found a way to burn their bridges

while ours are still standing

and weighed down from gridlock with evil spirits

and yes I know the woman murdered three people in the process

three people who didn't deserve to die

and yes she was sick

and yes they were kind

and yes it was wrong

but let me tell you

if burning down a house would get rid of my demons

I would make the Great Fire of Chicago

look like nothing in comparison

because I have tried every remedy

I have tried drowning them

I have tried outrunning them

I have tried killing them

and they still swim

they still run

they still live

and the city is on fire anyway

so what does one more house matter?