As a Boy
as a boy
I could recognize a nightmare in progress for what it was
I would pedal my bike furiously
trying to escape a gang of bullies
who kept gaining though they were on foot
or couldn’t find my way out of a strange neighborhood
the streets leading in having vanished
and a part of my mind still awake and reasoning
would say
This cannot be happening
Make yourself wake up
and I did
and I was safe in my darkened bed
an enviable talent
being able to make irrational phantasms evaporate at will
but in time it was a talent lost
I know
for recently I tried my best to wish away
something too horrible
and too wildly improbable to be real
I strained and strained to wake myself
and opened my eyes
God damn it
the front page didn’t change a bit.
Robert Laughlin lives in Chico, California. Two of his short stories are Million Writers Award Notable Stories, and his novel, Vow of Silence, was favorably reviewed by Publishers Weekly. His website is at www.pw.org/content/robert_laughlin.
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