'Mercy on My Small Husband'

Mercy on my small husband.

When he sleeps bare five hours a night
wrapped in paper like an accident,
like an insect itching serifs inside an envelope.
He sleeps knowing I am nowhere near.
He sleeps near I know not where.
My small husband is an impossible sleeper...

       --from 'Mercy on My Small Husband' by Nicholas Laughlin

READ more poetry from editor Nicholas Laughlin, Jim Goar and more, as well as a review of Vahni Capildeo's Undraining Sea at the latest issue of the online journal Blackbox Manifold here. Photo by Andre Bagoo.