It was bound to happen
the proximity of my son in this small house
and yet it’s more than I expected
his mouth beside me everywhere asking and asking
I can feel my irritation like an angry moth
flapping inside my chest
we’re like a lion and her cub
used to roaming but now stuck in the same pen
and then suddenly my words crack out of me
pop pop pop
sharp as claws
I saw a lion swipe at her cub once
at a zoo when I was little
and I think of how she stretched out
afterwards in the sun
did she feel heartsick as she lay there
or did she trust the sun to take the memory away.