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.