Four Nights of Dreaming

by Nicole McKeon

I

I am                 youth incarnate

a young boy

            full of blood

I am

running away from home

            (or)

I am

jumping on the train

stowaway daydreams

my younger brother

            tries to follow

his small palms are slippery

            with sweat

he falls back on the tracks

hard

he is not moving

I do not move

II

Our shiny badges proclaim

three letters

we are looking for

a missing child

a dead child

we are in the home of a

            too tall woman

her eyes are shifty

and she is holding a knife

but we have guns

and we are not afraid

            she has all these doors

                        that won't open

III

Zach Galifianakis

is debuting a new

flavor of Skittles

they are marbles

of blue and purple

there is a party but

no one has tried them

yet, they might be glass

IV

I am walking to the park

there is a vending

machine

selling rare chips

and beer

I am tied between

margarine and Armani

when I remember

I don't have any coins

and I go into the park

where some kids bully me

for not being good

at the monkey bars

 Nicole McKeon is forever a student. She currently lives on the top of a hill with her partner and dog. She can be found playing video games when she’s supposed to be writing poems.