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Some Boys Aren’t Born They Bubble

some boys aren’t born they bubble

up from the earth’s crust land safely around

kitchen tables green globes of fruit already

in their mouths when they find themselves crying

they stop crying these boys moan

more than other boys they do as desire

demands when they dance their bodies plunge

into space and recover the music stays

in their breastbones they sing songs about

storms then dry their shoes on porches

these boys are so cold their pilot lights never light

they buy the best heat money can buy blue flames

swamp smoke they are desperate

to lick and be licked sometimes one will eat

all the food in a house or break every bone

in his jaw sometimes one will disappear into himself

like a ram charging a mirror when this happens

they all feel it afterwards the others dream

of rain their pupils boil they light black candles

and pray the only prayer they know oh lord

spare this body set fire to another

from Calling a Wolf a WolfFind more by Kaveh Akbar at the library

Copyright © 2017 Kaveh Akbar
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Alice James Books.

Published in Kaveh Akbar Poems

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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