boy

photo by Nikola Radojcic

what is a boy? is he get to the chopper with a nerf gun? is he they drew first blood not me? is he so cute he’ll beat all the girls off with a stick? when he holds his breath can he smell fear on the wind?

what is a boy? is he the space where a shadow falls? is he becoming a night that never dawns? is he the sound a tree makes in a forest when it reaches for an axe and hacks at its own roots? is he the flinch before the collision? or two sides of the same coin divorcing?

what is a boy? is he a monster in miniature? the pause before that one joke? the laughter that’s forced into a throat? future mr fast car hot wife big house? the nuclear centre of a nuclear family in a nuclear suburb? is he about to go nuclear?

what is a boy? is he a cry for help or a lectern? is he a stadium filler or a troll on the internet or an insect on the factory line? when he looks to his father does he see hero or enemy? can he still tell the difference? does it matter?

what is a boy? is he the time between injustice and a fist? is he the growing pains of martyrdom? is he a periscope that looks out of the womb and sees war? is he an alpha or a beta or the marble left on the chopping board? is he the soon-to-be man of steel his pockets packed with ammunition? is his kryptonite a country that can afford to lose him? is he the pre-fabricated shape of a country in mourning?