Spilled milk on carpet
Kitten cradled crux of arm
Sleep comes swift for two
(In the bedroom)
Just like Spiderman
Brother creeps up hallway walls
Above shiny cracked tiles
Slide across in socks
Goggled eyes spy brother reach
Sweet cottage cheese sky
(In the room they sleep indifferently)
Only yesterday
Made brother’s head go knock knock
Hard into the floor
Flip switch at one end
Slide back and flip the other
Out with the nightlights
(So as not to disturb the sleepers)
Brother goes to sleep
In the fetus position
Licking up spoiled milk
(Meanwhile the sleepers continue to sleep)
Forgive them he says
In the language of dreamers
For they know not what
They’ll do in a few
The cracked tile will be replaced
Brother’s head healed
And no one left to climb walls like children.
The Hungry Artist 