I’m a burning rage,
left on the heat too long,
a rattling hymn,
a broken song,
fifty years of swallowed flame
hissing underneath my name.
The valve is screaming.
Metal shakes.
Every nerve inside me aches.
I smile politely, perform on cue,
while something violent pushes through.
I keep down the lid with all my might,
by burning skin in dead of night,
with every cruelty that’s been done,
turned inward like a loaded gun.
Because if I let one drop release,
the roar will shatter every peace.
I’d howl like engines split apart,
rip every silence from my heart.
I do not want to wound a soul,
absorbing pain just is my role.
I’ve learned to lock each rage-filled crybehind my teeth, behind my eyes.
But fury ferments in the dark.
heat upon heat, a living spark.
The pressure *** begins to groan,
pain to contain, fear to postpone.
“Leave me alone”
no, stay nearby.
I fear the dark inside my mind.
I fear the things I cannot name
when no one stands between the flame.
Because alone, I will collapse,
split wide open at the cracks,
I’ll pound the walls with both my fists
‘til bones and grief can coexist.
I want to scream until I’m raw,
until my lungs forget their law,
until the child I used to be
stops bracing for catastrophe.
I want to cry it from my blood,
this toxic, ancient, choking flood,
to purge the poison, scorch the shame,
and not emerge at all the same.
The lid still trembles.
Cracked.
Thin.
And every day it takes more pain
just to keep it sealed again.
One day I fear I’ll lose my grip,
the valve will shriek, the hinges split -
and all the grief I never spoke
will turn this body into smoke.
7d ago
May 28, 2026 at 7:48 AM UTC
I’m a burning rage,
left on the heat too long,
a rattling hymn,
a broken song,
fifty years of swallowed flame
hissing underneath my name.
The valve is screaming.
Metal shakes.
Every nerve inside me aches.
I smile politely, perform on cue,
while something violent pushes through.
I keep down the lid with all my might,
by burning skin in dead of night,
with every cruelty that’s been done,
turned inward like a loaded gun.
Because if I let one drop release,
the roar will shatter every peace.
I’d howl like engines split apart,
rip every silence from my heart.
I do not want to wound a soul,
absorbing pain just is my role.
I’ve learned to lock each rage-filled crybehind my teeth, behind my eyes.
But fury ferments in the dark.
heat upon heat, a living spark.
The pressure *** begins to groan,
pain to contain, fear to postpone.
“Leave me alone”
no, stay nearby.
I fear the dark inside my mind.
I fear the things I cannot name
when no one stands between the flame.
Because alone, I will collapse,
split wide open at the cracks,
I’ll pound the walls with both my fists
‘til bones and grief can coexist.
I want to scream until I’m raw,
until my lungs forget their law,
until the child I used to be
stops bracing for catastrophe.
I want to cry it from my blood,
this toxic, ancient, choking flood,
to purge the poison, scorch the shame,
and not emerge at all the same.
The lid still trembles.
Cracked.
Thin.
And every day it takes more pain
just to keep it sealed again.
One day I fear I’ll lose my grip,
the valve will shriek, the hinges split -
and all the grief I never spoke
will turn this body into smoke.