Anthrophonies

A symphony of slurps slip past my peripheral

White noise is a rusty surface I must rest my being on

The wrappers snickering at me

Taunting the inner squelch of my sense of self

There’s no shelter in here

From you

Can you taste the trauma as you lick

the salt from your fingers?

He stares straight at me

As he uses those hands to pick up a bacon sandwich

Man layered over man

Palimpsestic pains.

The brain feels funny

It should be unintelligible

Instead, I can hear your cavernous trap

Echoing around that crunching crisp.

Every time your hand

Invades the packet

my eyes scope out the threat.

My friend absorbs my concerns

her eyes travel left too

in search of danger.

She won’t find what she’s looking for.

I find the threat in the hollowed out noises

that humans habitually have.

Like a twig snapping under paw,

my ears overwork and misdiagnose

and I’m ready to fight.

Shafts of light try to bring buoyancy to my skin

but I’m blinking too much that my head starts to fall

I can’t hear the conversation anymore

and throbbing fingertips turn itchy

Somebody’s headphones are too loud

and I can hear their

metallic throbbing

like a dysregulated

underbeat to my heart

Everything that is supposed

to be good with the world

topples over with the past

People are penetrative

the soundscape of humanity is too intrusive

their voices assemble into attacks

on me

in me

please, please get off me

I snap at my friend because I am overwhelmed.