To Ignore The Pain Poem by RIC BASTASA

to ignore the pain
like there is nothing between
us,
on this critical time of our lives
either one must leave
or one must shut up
away from
the other, closed like all the fingers hiding something
but it is just the beginning of something bigger
something
is gritting beneath, underneath the thickness of the flesh
something gnashes
it grows
expands and multiplies and branches out like
cancer
the pain with roots and tendrils
there is a time
for reckoning
the mounds protrude from the bones
and your mouth can no longer swallow
everything
fed to you
you cannot be ignored anymore like a bomb hidden
under the floor
you explode
lives will be claimed
the people will mourn for a while

and there you are
saying
justice is served