And I’m sorry if I dissed you.
-Modest Mouse
A German called out more light
when he was croaking. I coughed
so hard last night. I was only joking
and the German
had a good idea about plants.
But there were boys when I was a boy.
We took a magnifying glass
and roasted ants. They’d sizzle up.
We were all teeth somehow, boys,
and spit brown juice into cups.
And we all wanted to kill each other.
And in the sun we meant it. Strange.
To want to end a dirty, frayed life
for killing ants. We’d cry out
under clotheslines, worrying mothers
to a tread. We were boys, and
their violence, my own violence, my hands,
our greasy hands, light, more light,
in the fireflies burn and press
we buried our dead.
Header photograph © Sarah Huels.
Raphael Maurice is an English Specialist at East Central College. He lives in Washington, MO.