A Growling

There’s a growling from my

insides, no mere grumbling

of hunger, but an audible growl;

it has seeped up and out from

my throat more and more.

An irritation; a pebble in

my shoe, a ringing in the ear,

listening to an idiot telling a joke,

it’s all making this growl louder,

and I’m not sure what to do.

Is it appropriate to growl?

Do we growl?

Did we growl in human history?

What made us growlers?

Is it akin to howling?

This growl, a frustrated noise,

more than a grunt, or a bellow,

more than a chortle or annoyed

sigh. A growl, a roar, rumbling in

something I think is like my soul.

Is a growl just a swallowed scream?

A back up of frustration over love,

life, sex, humor, anger, disappointments,

time, expressed in bared teeth and

a rumble of noise in the throat.

This growl noise is also annoying since

I am a human being and not some feral

creature trying to scare away some

approaching predator. I’m rational,

logical, pragmatic, and resist flights of rage.

It is still there though, beckoning to be

released in some comical human groan,

a noise that would be unidentifiable in the

animal kingdom as a “growl”. The other mammals

would laugh at me. Point their opposable thumb less

paws at me and snicker.

A frustrated human noise, ringing like

church bells through my guts,

clanging and tolling for relief,

for quiet and peace, some time

when the growl is quiet.

A drink, a smoke, a laugh or

two, a kiss, a sensual touch,

a loving wink, a quiet between

two minds; I think that

might quiet this growl.

Until the next time I wonder

what that god-awful noise I

am making is.