Claustrophobic Animals Poem by Butch Decatoria

Claustrophobic Animals:
Peoples
Neighbors
The ones near you
Next to you on the bus

Behaving in the box
Silences of hateful thought
Sucking all the air
Keeping a grip

I see there behind them eyes
The lick of canines slick smile
Hollow of empathy

Behaving in these boxes we've made
Into stage and cage for rage
To notice you
And I suffer the same

Peoples
Family
Strangers school
Shooters
Target

Us, we mortal
People

Death
The claustrophobic animal.