The Meanness of Politics

The meanness of politics—
Of being self-assured,
Confident to the hilt—
Is a way to hide
That politics is always a mean.

Not a middle.
Not a compromise.
Not a force...
Of oppression and power.
(For how else do we find power, but by finding

  oppression?)

It is an appropriate reaction:
A something embedded and emergent
From the situation.

Something?
A policy
A promise
A compromise
(No, that was already set aside.)
A call to unity
(Ah, but who are we?
I don’t even know myself.)
It goes even deeper…
If we let it.
Something not known;
A mean to be found.
Embedded (evidential?)
Emergent
Relative, but to the situation:
Embedded.
Relative to all that is
All that situates us
Even when we don’t
(want…)
To see.
It emerges
Maybe of its own wisdom
And despite our…
What is taken as wisdom.
Not whine-some
(or a lot)
Not calculated
Virtù?
Yes…
Every Little (dictator) Prince
Has his place
(From) the rose tender
(To) the fleur-de-lis family
The situation,
What emerges,
That holds sway.
What can hold?
What can it hold?
Not just power,
But things together.
The mean of politics is that:
Holding things together.
What together?
To what end?
Ah, that is the situation.
(Not the question)
That always is
That always is
On a horizon of time
That always is there
A place and time
Democracy or dictatorship
Depends on what it means
And on what the mean is…