Fair’s Fair “For Book Lovers”

WRAPPED-IN-LEATHER BOY

WRAPPED-IN-LEATHER BOY

Hey, wrapped-in-leather boy

all nervous-tapping feet sheathed in black black

combat boots

little body in too-big clothes

long blond hair falling all inconsistent

over/under fur collar

hands that don’t know how to busy themselves

placed here or there arbitrarily

& that puzzled look on your face,

dear, dear wrapped-in-leather boy,

is endearing

so unique amongst the disaffected stares

the dead-eyed looks of your

non-leathered peers.

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TURTLE-CHILD

today, leather-wrapped boy is instead

turtle-neck child

still covered head-to-toe,

still hair tussled over collar,

still sitting in profile to me

careful chaos clad in

collegiate costume.

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Laura Nelson is a poet and university student from Innisfail, Alberta, Canada.
Painting: “A Boy with a Lesson-Book, 1757.”