I wake up
my mood wrinkled
from the rumble of a dream
I am not particularly tired
but I act like I am
audible sighs
like an ad for a martyr
a mood can do this
it can take over
drag the nice version of you behind it
in a noose
it needs reasons to stay alive
so it hunts for violations
like a parking enforcement officer
with a quota
my husband does what he can
he sings What a Feeling in Spanish
even though he doesn’t
speak Spanish
and my son tries out his new word for me
banana
only he doesn’t know when to stop
so it has six syllables
they say you can snap out of a mood
but it’s not like that
it’s mud in a bath
we all wait
as it slowly
trickles away.