than spitting words when feeling’s
too great to hold in place that cataract
of ideas you have in contradistinction
to everyone else’s. Better is biting
the tongue that’s about to wag
like a hoisted flag, or wriggle, or writhe
like a discomforted worm.
Better, is it better, to be burned
like a flag or stepped on
like a worm, just to keep a bunch
of “friends” in whose ideas you don’t care?