Back when I was a nipper my parents moved us away from our home in the city. I didn't speak to them for weeks. They either didn't notice or were  more practiced in the art of psychological warfare than me. I suspect the latter

Early learning..

Using silence
like a megaphone
to broadcast his dismay

he tried
to make a statement
without speaking for a day

but his mother
just assuming that
he'd nothing much to say

sent her silent
revolutionary
son outside to play;

outmaneuvered
in the kitchen
by his mother's disregard

for the planned
campaign of muteness,
his rebellion fell apart

to the sound
of scuffing shoes
and the grumble in his heart

cos peaceful protests
tend to lose
when no-one's listening very hard..