They Hear

They piped music into their ears
as they walked,
jogged,
ran.
They shut out rural sounds,
city noise,
& sometimes the quiet—
for though they voiced their thoughts,
even as they posted those same thoughts
(only angrier),
they could not bear to think them.
Unlike in Harrison Bergeron,
their thoughts were not interrupted,
but they interrupted their own thoughts
with song lyrics or books on tape,
for they had become consumers of pop culture,
pop psychology,
& bullshit self-help
that left them helpless.

http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/2018-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-13