It heats you, keeps you wam.
It gets your house clean very fast.
It can chop a whole pile of wood.
If you take it for a run,
you’ll really feel those feet
hitting the pavement hard.
You’ll probably lose weight.
It can make you braver
than you ever thought you were,
or anyone else thought.
It can help you speak up,
for yourself or another,
in the face of injustice.
Spitting into that face.
Or it may turn you cold. This
will have you think clearly
and speak well.
Once, icily articulate,
it helped me stop a date-raper
bigger and stronger than me,
with only words.
Once, in white-hot rage,
it fired a banishing spell.
Her abuser left the country.
And anger can create
fierce poems – not this one, this
is merely about anger –
blazing to the sky.
Written for Poets and Storytellers United at Friday Writings #182: Anger As (healthy) Fuel.
