Nocturnes

Carl Poppa

Nurse’s Note: Born 7 pounds 10 ounces, 18 inches long, 32 fully formed teeth. Silent, always smiling.

The grinning face stared at me from the darkness beyond my bedroom window. I live on the 14th floor.

I can’t move, breathe, speak or hear and it’s so dark all the time. If I knew it would be this lonely, I would have been cremated instead.