Quiet

I've grown sick of the word "quiet,"

the way it appears quietly inserting itself where it doesn't belong,

but it isn't quiet at all; it's loud.

Quiet regret, quiet confidence, quietly any verb you like,

who cares if it quietly makes no sense at all?

The bots are quietly addicted, unable to kick the habit like the quiet hit of a vape,

so I see it everywhere, lurking, killing my respect for too much of what I read online —

that quiet shit is seeping into my pores —

unavoidable.

Who gave this to their algorithms?

Did "quiet quitting" do us dirty, quietly poison the well?

I'll speak and write and laugh and feel for myself thunderously,

partially out of spite

partially as a consequence of a life worth living.