Bunk House
by MICHAEL PERKINS
my Grandma’s shed
had carpet, a blue stained
glass-headed lamp and
two bunk beds.
one of the lies
we tell children is
no one falls off
the top bunk but
our first night there
she did—
K, the first in my
short line of cornerstones.
she didn’t even cry
didn’t want the help
just hid the bruises
in her mouth and ran.
Michael Perkins (they/them) is a poet and essayist from Cary, IL. They graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a BA in political science and minor in creative writing. They have poems published or forthcoming in Clamour, Transients Magazine, Montage Arts Journal, and elsewhere. In their free time, they like riding public transit, trying to learn music theory, and watching RuPaul’s Drag Race.