“Escape!” by Lori Ulrich

I can't put them in a box
they rattle the lid
make slurping sounds
like an infant

Not to be confined
words have detonated
inside my head
they rabble around
shake cages
hook together in lines
snake their way through the bars
out, onto this page
demand I put them together

I stretch out the lines
pin them on the page
snip prune edit the roughness
tweak the story
eradicate imperfection

Enraged, it bleeds red
wants to be raw
edgy
unedited
rough
real

The heart is a poem