Blood On Mute

Blood On Mute

I am done being soft
when you keep drawing blood
on mute

Keep talking like I am furniture
and watch what happens
when I stand

You talk
I vanish
same damn pattern on repeat
like a glitchy loop
you never plan to fix

My words hit your shield
and slide down it
like rain off bulletproof bricks

Your face in lights
my work in drafts
every idea bleeding out in the margins
while you staple my spine
to your laughs

I hold the door
you walk through
and never turn around
then ask why I am so angry
when I finally make a sound

You say I am overreacting
you say I am taking it wrong
you say I should calm down
you never shut up long enough
to hear the goddamn song

I swallowed it
year after year
heart cramps
jaw locked
rage packed tight
behind a half-smile twitch

You hand my work to someone shinier
then praise them for the switch

You clap yourself for empathy
while stepping on my neck
call my pain “dramatic”
call my anger a wreck

I fix your mess
you take the credit
call it fate
you only remember my number
when you need someone else
to carry your weight

This is not a gentle protest
this is glass in the gears
of your act

This is every time you cut me off
coming back
as a sound you cannot control

You built your throne on my silence
now the floorboards crack and groan
every word you buried grows teeth
starts chewing through your phone