High Note

Woke up to it.

That thin, high whine,

like a broken tea kettle

or a wire snapping taut

inside my skull.

Last night's drums,

the guitar feedback,

all compressed into this

single, insistent thread.

It drowns out the fridge,

the neighbor's dog.

Just this, a tiny

insect trapped

behind my eardrums,

beating its wings,

forever.