Intellectual property

At least when someone swipes

Your car or your watch,

There are things to do.

You file a report, you take the steps

Necessary to get them back,

You wait.

You probably don't get them back.

But you replace them.

You move on.

At least when someone who is threatened

By you and wants you

Out of the way and tries

To hurt you,

There are things to do.

You file a report, you take the steps

Necessary to defend yourself,

You fight back.

You try to pay your hospital bills.

Or maybe you wear concrete shoes

And hang with the fishes

Nibbling on your eyelashes.

But when someone steals
Pieces of your life, or pokes

Around in places you've put behind you,

Or hampers your ability

To exist as you are,

There is no recourse.

You wander the world still, halfway between

Who you were, and what people make you.

The thieves hold the shiny booty

In their hands 

Like children who've gotten away with the candy jar

Feeling ill and bloated

Emotional and political assassins

But liking it that way,

Knowing they've eaten all the evidence.