Waiting for Vesuvius

This is a poem about temper

.
Silence rained in my father's house

When his mind was on the prowl.

Great globular fear-drops

hung in the air of every room

as his brain battled with electro-taxis.

Intuition of early age

could smell the threat

and fear and love

fought their corners in my head

Until they fused and remained there,

forever confused.

Sometimes he would say,

'it's the simples thing in the world, OHMS law.

Once you have that you have it cracked.'

This triggered the switch

which shut down my mind.

Bits filtered through, out of context.

Anode, cathode, resistance, capacitor.

A miasmic cacophony of words

started my head nodding in dumb agreement

as I waited for Vesuvius.

Imbecile, ballocks and gobshite

were the names for me

which erupted from the object

of my love and fear.

I never did master OHMS law

but my dark moods can rain silence upon a room.

~~Aidan Sharkey