DUNCE

Kid sitting at the edge of a dock.

Legs swinging in free fall.

Wood scrapes into his hands.

He thinks that the stars can talk to him.

Midwestern night.

There’s something out in the fields,

Something banging on the roof.

Fresh vomit in the toilet.

The sink is running, so you can’t

Hear your own heavy breathing.

There was a collapsed star.

There was light at the very end of a cave.

There was lightning that struck a tree.

There was a baby born

With a slightly bigger skull, one day.