into the hearth

i’ve been growling a lot
it helps me through the flesh eating subzero
if this spirit of cold had a beating heart
a throat of muscle 
i would tear into it with my rabid tooth

i’m more concerned though for my growl
at the endless tasks of the mundane
items to sort, messages to address
dunces from mass blocking my road 

or worse yet
at the soldiers of ignorance i pass daily
who corral an elderly woman
on the sidewalk chanting nigger
who force a youthful woman
frozen in fear into the wall of the barroom

these furious blockades 
like sent straight by toecutter 
singe my insides 
especially when following
the glow of love
the grace of song

my love though helps me
handle demon flames that destroy
move them into the hearth
to be a fire that warms
quiet the growl to a purr
that disarms
open these fists of fury
into gasho