Expansion

The manual is dry and long,

the lamp is casting yellow light.

Everything in here feels wrong

in the middle of the night.

The pipes begin their sudden chore,

a violent, metallic thud.

A hammer hitting on the floor

or someone dragging through the mud.

It’s just the iron getting hot,

expanding in the hollow wall.

A frantic, rhythmic knocking spot

that wants to break out of it all.