Posted inPoetry

The Enemy Within

by Kenneth Moore February 27, 2021February 21, 2022

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The Enemy Within

by Kenneth Moore, Prison Journalism Project
February 27, 2021

<h1>The Enemy Within</h1>
<p class="byline">by Kenneth Moore, Prison Journalism Project <br />February 27, 2021</p>
 
<p>You are seen in families from all social, ethnic, racial, educational and religious backgrounds;<br />You are there in towns, suburbs, rural area, and cities;<br />Your frequency and severity are equal across the board<br />Once you get an inch you take a mile.<br />You rub everyone the wrong way;<br />You know how to arouse attention;<br />You are not welcome, nor invited by any;<br />You have hidden agendas.<br />I am no longer vulnerable to you<br />You have no limits, nor show favoritism;<br />You turned those close to me against me;<br />You are no different than this coronavirus.</p>
<p>I used you and encountered you in the streets.</p>
<p>You don’t have an excuse for what you did,<br />You and only you are the blame,<br />You don’t even have self-control — what made you think<br />you could control others?<br />No wonder you are without, I know you inside and out.</p>


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You are seen in families from all social, ethnic, racial, educational and religious backgrounds;
You are there in towns, suburbs, rural area, and cities;
Your frequency and severity are equal across the board
Once you get an inch you take a mile.
You rub everyone the wrong way;
You know how to arouse attention;
You are not welcome, nor invited by any;
You have hidden agendas.
I am no longer vulnerable to you
You have no limits, nor show favoritism;
You turned those close to me against me;
You are no different than this coronavirus.

I used you and encountered you in the streets.

You don’t have an excuse for what you did,
You and only you are the blame,
You don’t even have self-control — what made you think
you could control others?
No wonder you are without, I know you inside and out.

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Kenneth Moore

Kenneth Moore is an African-American writer and poet. He is the author of the book “Subconscious Poetry” (available at www.PrisonsFoundation.org) and has had one of his poems published in the book “Silent Screams: Poems from Uncharted Territory” by Dr. Unique Shaw-Smith. He is incarcerated in California.

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