Control

We are all poised

on the brink 

held back by a single thread

leaned towards the abyss

that is why 

all that it takes 

is another human in the shopping line

or refusing to signal when they turn 

to press us into madness.

I have heard

that this is not 

how it is supposed to be 

that we should blame the cultures

we have constructed

the injustices 

we have perpetuated 

the cruelties

we have inflicted

upon one another 

but the first emotion I remember 

in my car seat

was red rage burning

so I am not so sure

that anger 

running in our veins 

is unnatural. 

We try to layer 

the masks of evolution

over our real faces 

sophisticated / urbane / civilized

but the real faces snarl

and the real voices

howl in the depths 

where our hearts thud 

involuntarily 

outside of our control

like everything else.