tantrum

​
​that voice again
pipes up, howls
at the suggestion
of a moment's silence

why so vicious
you might take softer approaches instead
of the hammer, a knife, the furnace
of contempt that burns away what
might have been otherwise a flower or
a song

i control the tempo and temperature
of my response i give it flavor
gauge progress by shifts
in volume and frequency

it grows quiet for two or three days then
i tend to violate any fragile truce

​​ought to see it coming by now

​