a poem by brian francis

Jack in the Box Ode  


How clumsy his hands
proved to be
Carved you to delight
and terrify     Opaque
minstrel visited so
often springs rusty, face
chipped, surely once
you were your own

Hiccup in the music
          Wait on the beat
a drop.
Are you manic
in the silence? Do you
long for Geppetto?

You could be loved
to death.

"Jack in the Box Ode" originally appeared in Fledgling Rag (Issue 12).

Brian Francis is a Cave Canem fellow from New York City. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Creative Nonfiction and is currently an MFA candidate at NYU.