I can hear them yelling
Through layers of fake wood
And painted walls
I hear them
Barking up trees
And biting through roots
Nights like these make me afraid
If this is the night
When mama takes me to a hotel
Because daddy is mad
And mama thinks he'll hit her
Even though he never has before
I've become extra aware
of the volume of my voice
I'm careful to pick the octaves
Not too high, sometimes too low
So I don't scare away people
With my dog whistle scream
Through throat pipe shivers
And breaths sucked through gapped teeth
I hear unnecessary rage
And nights spent on the couch
I shouldn't worry about them now
When we're all grown adults
But the child in me still wonders
If we're apart of the wrong 50 percent
