1976
the Bicentennial Minute
is playing on the cathode
ray tube in the corner
in the yard around
the house you’ll own
for fifty years
half-full November
is an annual feast
eleven twelfths gone
and i am ten
someone said an old score
i am the skin of broken grapes
in the house alone
to hide or burn it down
your drinking makes me drunk
fire requires an accelerant
hiding is another kind
heart racing faster
holding one’s breath
takes oxygen
away
the harder you try
to be an empty room
each year i blow one more candle
wishing beyond invisibility
to disinvent
myself
About the Author: Paul Koniecki lives and writes in Dallas, Texas. He was once chosen for the John Ashbery Home School Residency. He is the Associate Editor of Thimble Literary Journal.
More by Paul Koniecki :
today the sky is
a flag that helps everyone
Image Credit: Benjamin Franklin Upton “Portrait of a little boy named, Frank” 1851–1856 Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
As It Ought To Be 