Fictional Nepotism

Metaphorical kin can ensure
Metaphorical kin selection,
And fellow feeling felt for your clans,

However freely you define them,
Likely leads to favoritism
However you may justify it.

It’s the teams that are competing here,
Fact blurred by other facts, such as that
You each belong to more than one team,

Maybe many teams in your own mind,
And your loyalties shift fluidly
Much of the time. The superstructure

Is unstable as a pyramid
On an active fault line, but the gut
Instinct to favor your family

Is older than your entire species.
Feel a kinship bond with anyone
And you’ll glow like heated filaments,

Incandescent, unbearably bright
In the right vacuum, but dangerous
When fictions burst and burn through the night.