IN THE HOUSE OF RUNAWAYS
by leah neiboer
where night will shipwreck
its lonesome line
of stars—
where we ran
once to see what it was like—
being unconstellated—
a boy there
with his jeans drying on a bicycle frame
said
I’m ancient
like he’d just learned what that word means
and wasn’t someone coming
up out of his body then
they’re gonna put my body in a big fancy box
in the museum
next to the dinosaurs
you know how
he said
like they did in Egypt
he kicked an imaginary wheel
looked up at my face
said
you’re the moon,
you’re like that too
Leah Nieboer grew up in Iowa. She is a PhD candidate in English and Literary Arts at the University of Denver, an editorial assistant for Denver Quarterly, a graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers, and the recipient of a Virginia Center for Creative Arts Fellowship.