Portrait #4

Boy -

approximately 5 years of age.

Movements mimic a stenographer

who has not slept -

*who will not sleep

until the script is finished or his bottle runs

dry.

He is sharp but haphazard.

A circle saw without the guard.

He is the spring behind my bathroom door

flexing away from our new puppy's teeth,

but he is also the puppy

and he is also the door

and all around, the sounds of frustration and joy

remind me that, exactly once,

I did something

right.