The Outside Matinee Poem by Raj Dronamraju

I want to roar into your chest cavity in a public place
Hear it slow fade echo into unstoppable silence
I want you to sense me close even though I am nowhere near you
I want to push aside your weaker set of prejudices, love, and inclinations

The sound of your voice makes me want to harm myself
This what we've come to, where we've ended up
Who's the one beside you, interrupting a getting to know you session
Your kind of behaviour makes me want to run away

Picking up fruit in a field nearby
The grooves in the side of the fruit remind us of the human brain
It's the living limits but the limits are only in manmade dwellings
Dormitories of death, breathe in the claustrophobia
Shake the bed with inactivity

Outside there's a show
It occurs either once or twice an afternoon depending on the time of year
Depending on the level of the accumulated vitriol among the two by two suburban strollers
They can see their breath
Like kids exhaling slowly so they can see their breath in the cold air