Vocabulary

She asked for the word for the burn on her knee,

the way that the salt makes the open skin bite.

I looked at the window, I looked at the tree,

and my mouth felt as heavy as lead in the light.

The sounds that I knew when I was a boy

have slipped through the gaps like a handful of sand.

My tongue is a blunt and a useless toy,

pointing at things I no longer command.