Swallowing Something Bitter Poem by RIC BASTASA

involuntarily he swallows something bitter
not perfectly round
definitely bitter
but for now he shall not spit it out
he needs time
perhaps it will be years
he cannot even open his mouth to speak
they call him mute and dumb and deaf
but inside his ears are sharp
his understanding like the seed so bitter

his hope is only that day when by having learned
all the bitterness
he shall spit fire
and magma comes out from his mouth
and rocks
and everything thermoplastic
like he is bomb that shakes all their worlds
into tiny splinters