THERE IS A BOY

THERE IS A BOY

I.

In the backyard there is a boy

building a home

for a pill bug he named Henry

Boys have dirty fingernails and scabbed knees.

So he kneels to the ground,

and thrusts his hands into the dirt –

the rocks split his skin / stain his nailbeds 

There is validation in bloody bandages.

II.

In the bathroom there is a boy

showering in basketball shorts

with a   [sock stuffed sock]   between his legs

Boys have flat chests and bruised knuckles.

So he holds himself together with duct tape

the adhesive burns / suffocate his ribs

and breaks apart his reflection on the tile  –

There is dissonance [in the space] between

      his fingers / his legs / his breasts

III.

In the ground there is a 

headstone / he carved himself / with a scalpel

The parts discarded are buried across

the backyard.       the bathroom.       the ground.

Boys kill themselves into men.

So he rearranged his skin –

two lines / lives lived