tension brewing

every town can be a tense one,
given the right circumstances,
given the right squashing of
personalities into the right
sardine can &
when the fuses get lit
perfectly, so as to burn quick &
thrust the whole scene into a
frenzy, no one can claim
that they didn’t see it coming
when we were there the whole
time to witness the
tension brewing.

have there always been those
“peacemakers?”
you know, the ones
who see what’s happening between
a couple of people rising in anger &
feel the need to personally try &
defuse it before there is a pool of
blood staining the carpet---
and what motives have these, the
“peacemakers,” who may be successful
in talking down a potentially disastrous
scuffle?

there will always be the ones who flee
quickly, as that first whiff of coming
conflict starts filling the air & there
will always be those whose own bloodlust,
be it part of a public persona or deep inside
the most nether regions of their mind,
will keep them watching (and possibly
participating) until the bitter end &
so, what kind of stirring stick are you,
in the tension brew?