New Crazy Dog Songs, #2: Schizo-Affective Bop

if a voice offers to boil you
take it for a walk
like a beloved dog
until it’s panting
begging for cool water

if a voice begs to hang you
calm it with long strokes
and a fistful of doctrine
until it curls up and makes nice
with its spiky fur bent
against your failing ankles

if a voice threatens to bean you
with a burn softball
toss it back and get steel-eyed
on its face until
it cowers behind the plate
shitting soft gold paste
you can use to paint the bleachers
where the weird spectators sit
watching you just so they can complain
all the way home
if you win