Lapsed
At ten years old I prayed
every night before I closed my eyes
that I would live a long life.
By twelve I had come to know death
was not the empty robin’s nest
just outside my bedroom window,
but the desiccated hatchling
lying on the ground below
curled into itself forever.
*
Kip Knott is a writer, photographer, teacher, and part-time art dealer living in Delaware, Ohio. His third book of poetry, The Other Side of Who I Am, is due later this year from Kelsay Books. His debut collection of stories, Some Birds Nest in Broken Branches (Alien Buddha Press), is available on Amazon. You can follow him on Instagram at @kip.knott and read more of his work at kipknott.com.
