National Poetry Month’s Poem-A-Day 30-Day Challenge: Day 5
MUFFLER
i.
His father ignored him. His mother, bored,
always talked at him. He never once won
the first grade reward for excellent conduct.
The teens at the cool table mercilessly teased
his high-pitched voice so late in the changing.
Librarians shooshed him. And so did the patrons
watching the previews in the mall movie theater.
ii.
His girlfriend habitually finishes his sentences.
He winces repeatedly at his own inner censor
before there is even a word on his tongue.
He recently learned the trick of side-sleeping
to insure when he nods off he doesn’t start to snore,
while deep in his dreams he’s a lion on the cliff’s edge,
mane in the wind, the whole world hearing him roar.
