"a battle is only as big as the army"

The real war will not be between
the good and the evil
the light and the dark
the righteous and the damned.

It will not be in the streets
or the highways
or in front of city hall.

Rather,
it will ignite suddenly,
without warning,
across dining room tables
and in quiet whispers between co-workers,
trickling down the spine,
launching from the tip of the backbone
into the painted smiles and frozen stomachs of those who have none.