Apple of Crazy

Words can be pets
A puppy that becomes family,
Goes out, learns to play with others
Wagging words
Licking hearts
Trained to behave
For the most part
Words grow into dogs
Not friendly to everyone
But yours

It is in the quiet when the walls amplify voices that a low growl starts
Like my mother's I think
Her dogs at first on a leash
Tame, civil, controlled
Guarding, they call it a defense mechanism
Protection against trauma
Until fist, words, and batter
Cause them to snap from their lanyards
Bound wildly through the opening
So she would drink another 40
Light another blunt
Pop another set of pills
That dulled her senses,
To quiet the bark
Pushing door against their vicious jowls
On the days she got tired of pushing,
Her eyes would be a house of pain
They'd leap
Pouncing on insecurities
She'd forget herself
Become something with a rabid bite
She'd catch me in the snare of her words

That's why when I sit in a room
Hearing people's voices through the wall
Or across the room my ears turn words into malignant teeth
They twist into a pack of dogs pawing at the door
Whining to be let in
Growling
I convince myself to hear the best in people
Words bark
Can't let these dogs run around the house
Or chew at my vulnerability
They are just animals

Words may not break bone or flesh
They can be viral,
Can snip at the heels of your sanity
Ripping a part minds
I put them down
Sounds inhumane, but my dogs only move by command
With finesse to human ear
Not ruthless
But they can attack
Mom taught me best how to be rabid
To nick minds where it hurts
I can let em loose
Always knowing they can turn on you
Casually unleashed
They be ferocious
Yet the growl may just be my own voice
The bark my words pushing out
I'm the dog walker
Occasionally I'm the dog