The new soundsystem spoke
after we’d gone to bed. I didn’t know
you had to shut it off special.
Two men’s mumbling voices,
and the spell of sleep broke. “Bump”
does not raise me in the night;
the sound of Man, tho, and I stand
ready, heart pressing adrenaline
through muscle hard, every alveolus
open and filled, my mind decided
among tactics I did not know I knew.
Fear lives with those who will survive.
And nothing lives that fears not Man,
including Man. Yet, there is no animal
the sight of which makes me hungry.
1. Soundsystem
2. Bump
3. Friend or Foe?