Nosebleed: Sixth Grade
All of a sudden, there it is.
A flagrant crimson mark
Highlighting the metacarpal
Bone of his index finger.
A red eyebrow but on his hand.
Strange to be in History now,
Talking about the First World
War, and have this happen.
The teacher wants to know
Is there no one, not one
Single one of them, who can
Tell him what started it all?
A dam in his skull has broken.
He can feel it running over
His lip, down his throat.
It tastes like his fingers do
After searching through
The mason jar of change
For wheat-backed pennies.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
That’s his hand.
He raises the answer.