Frequency: Are (violent)

ARE (violent)

are you many in number

When Howard has nightmares, they frequently feature violent, unstoppable invasions, swarms of creatures both alien and familiar.

are we your people

Anna’s family encourages her to go to church, saying that it will bring her comfort, and so they both go a few times, feeling lost and willing to try anything. The ritual itself is calming but Anna grows queasy when she thinks of a deity so capable of beauty and nonetheless so arbitrary, so violent.

are those we put down still part of us

Anna develops horribly violent associations between blood and bodies of water.

are they even men

Howard’s tasks, and those of thousands of others like him, seem like an incredibly Sysiphusian way to combat an invisible, violent, and omnipresent threat, so many drops in a bucket the size of an ocean.

are you here to give me my end

Truth be told, Johnnie loved driving under the influence of certain drugs. He loved a lot of dangerous things. He didn’t want to hurt anybody, though he was nearly sure he’d someday come to a violent end. The woman he was with was moaning, and Johnnie had one hand on the wheel, one hand in her moistness. He was thinking about death and driving fast to another night in another city.

are you part of the answer

For some strange reason, men had been fighting over Helen ever since she was a teenage girl. It was nice to feel wanted, but she never liked watching two guys resort to a violent confrontation over a part of herself that neither one of them would ever really touch.

are you more than animal

Certain security measures are violent in their impact both on the human psyche and on the devastated landscape, denying both humanity and environment presupposed natural rights.

are you mean or kind

Dave sighed whenever they gave him that garbage about running a clean campaign. He was always quick to remind the softer candidates that nice guys finish last, that politics is a violent contact sport. Save the world after you get into office. Right now it’s eat or be eaten.

are you through with your America now

In Anna’s dream, the barbershop is a violent place. The pole out front drips with blood, and the barber is after more than a quick trim.

are they still my people

Among Charlie’s friends are several men who have come to violent ends. Some fell from the top of a building. Some jumped of their own free will. Some others might have been pushed.