Playing with Matches

They listen quietly,

no interruptions

- only polite.

Waiting, waiting

for the Molotov question,

as rhetorical as swearing,

“Why don’t you talk to me?”

They beat the flames with

“nothing to say”

 -not quite shocked as the fire

burns their ears.

They wait.

Experienced enough

with conflagrations,

they do not mention

words laid flat

and inserted

edge first.