Dazzling

Metal Boy

My son the Metalhead
likes menacing minor chords

highly amplified distortion
extended guitar solos

staccato attacks
a palm-muted technique

a low pedal point
the cymbal choke

wicked mean riffs
an angry onslaught of noise

I keep his door closed
metal is a rebellion

out of which
I hope he grows

we discuss the dark lyrics
don't worry, he says

you can't understand
or even hear the words

Mum he says
you know Orthodox?

The Spanish Doom
Metal band?

Crimson, gold and nameless forms
seven heads for ten white horns

he snarls, in combat
with innocent strings

He turns his back
thrashing his body

banging his head
against vibrating air

thirteen and tortured
misunderstood

I close his door
and I move away

from the iron cacophony
shaking the walls

I played the same show
with a love of hard punk

when I was thirteen
tough and knew everything

and my mother too walked away

and I turned out okay.