smoke

 

 clandestinely this melody,

 like the whisper hidden

 in the poet’s verse,

slips in beneath

the padlocked doors

domestication cannot penetrate,

 awakening the sleeping one

who rattles now the cage

 

will i unlock the door to her?

let the rawness of her roar

 dance with the diary

that stirred her from her sleep.

 

i wonder how

this life of seeming safety

ensnares her so

(where does the tranquilizer gunman hide

when she comes out to prowl?)

 numbing her existence

 

stuffing all that’s real inside

this hidden vault in me

that rattles now and pops

from sudden heat

 

there must be a fire

in there,

somewhere