The Flinch and the Clench

Radio signals
TV broadcasts
And myriads of electronic fizz
Penetrate my body
Like lances, arrows and bullets
But like a corpse
I live beyond the flinch and the clench.

Billboards and advertisements
Assault my brain
Encouraging
Threatening
That minus their product
And service
My life is pointless
But I live beyond the flinch and the clench.

I am the prairie dog
Dug into the dirt
Away from predators
Secure from the shock and awe
Of life on the surface.

I question authority.
I suspect the preacher and the teacher
Insist they prove their point
Demonstrate their text by their lives.
I do not accept bumper sticker philosophy
Fortune cookie prosperity
Or text book practicality.

I blend into the background
Drawing no attention to my presence
Creating no pattern
That may signal a circling hawk, owl
Or fangs of a prowling wolf.

Words are dangerous weapons.
They can be sharply honed
To flay and sheer spirit from soul.
My scars prove the postulate.

Hide your heart.
Secret your soul.
Protect your person.
Live beyond the flinch and the clench.