War of the Trolls

This conflict fought in every generation
of pen and paper countrymen
neither ennobles nor uplifts
but the artlessness of putting down

These captious bouts of ego and id
where one names contrary such arcane ink
of the one disagreeably reversing the stink
so that every duel chains minds in legacy

In this age, when pens cross, spitting ink
in defense of a phrase, to topple critiques
it's street rules amidst the faceless screens
and a sneer when more dangerous by distance

Each onerous unwinnable clash
each furrowed brow set on turpitude
a cause not worth a single breath
this war too, has its conscientious objectors.

Max Stadnyk