The Monsters Inside Us Poem by Joseph D E Phillips

There are monsters inside
each and every one of us.
There are dolphins inside of us too.

We are animals you and I
We are hawks closing talons
around the shaking mouse.

We are the mother gorilla
cradling her baby
gazing into his big baby eyes.

We are two rival baboons
bearing teeth and claws
ripping pieces from each other.

We are two dolphins
splashing and sliding
making love for love's sake.

There are heroes inside of us
bringing a spoon to a hungry mouth
building parks for our children

but there are monsters inside of us too
yelling and cursing at one another
slapping faces at the slightest irritation

shooting up our schools
besieging our countries
blowing up our cities.

Our limbs are flying everywhere.
They are not the ones that do that.
They are us.

They are us
ripping child from mother at the border

They are us
blowing up cities

They are us
torturing confessions out of our enemies

They are us
Cursing the coworker

They are us
slapping our young in irritation

They are us
hating the other that is also us.

Somehow somehow
We must recognise our monsters
We must be horrified by us
We must find our dolphins
our mother gorillas cradling babies

We must grow our gardens
and build our playgrounds
and find a way to speak kinder words

We must be the change we want to see
if we ever want to see
the monsters inside us shrivel away.