Bill Knott

‘Quote Unquote’

Who wrote that we use our children to forget

the size of our parents, or is that really

a quote? And if it isn’t, and if I forget

to write it, does that mean that someone will —

But what if someone forgets to write the words

that bring me here, that let me be born?

Oh micro-mini-soul, you, my shirking ego,

your quotemarks would just hang there in the air

like wings without a bird.