Robert Fillman
Image by Adam Wade from Pixabay
Robert Fillman is the author of House Bird (Terrapin, 2022). His poems have appeared in Poetry East, Salamander, Spoon River Poetry Review, Tar River Poetry, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and elsewhere. His chapbook, November Weather Spell, was published by Main Street Rag Publishing in 2019. He teaches at Kutztown University in eastern Pennsylvania.
What I Was Told About Being a Man
Wondering if the story
was true, if my uncle's best
friend really did shoot himself
in the foot by accident,
his rifle exploding through
the toe cap of his boot, if
his buddies looked on in shock
as he pretended as though
nothing was wrong at first, took
a drag on his cigarette
before anyone noticed
the blood bubbling from his toes,
I leaned into that legend
for years, probably the way
he leaned against his buttstock
that day, trying to steady
its lesson, what my uncle
had aimed to instill in me—
the whole weight of my boyish
mind left to balance atop
some cold, slick, unstable truth,
and me motionless even
today, as if I am half
waiting for something to click—
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©2022 West Trade Review
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