Jonathan Humphrey

The Boy From Cave City, Kentucky (A Wreath of Sourgrass)

karst. (kärst). n. An area of irregular limestone in which erosion has produced fissures, sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns.

Sunday and a pore on his left cheek takes in a little more dirt than usual.

Monday and the dark spot is roughly the diameter of a #2 pencil. Not roughly. The boy has fed the hole a #2 pencil, eraser-end first. Curious.

Tuesday is stapler day, or at least it is now. The hole on the boy’s face willingly accepts a stapler. Time to panic.

Wednesday. Midweek. The cavern, which covers most of our protagonist’s profile, is midway through devouring a stray cat. Painful to watch, but you can’t turn away. The doctors want to keep him overnight.

Thursday is partly cloudy, a high of 55, and heavily sedated. The hollow hums.

Friday wakes up and inhales the nearest monitor.

Saturday and the boy is absent, swallowed, gone.

autumn deepens
a child’s ball
in the sinkhole 

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About the Author

Jonathan Humphrey’s work has recently appeared in Acorn, Frogpond, Modern Haiku, and The Heron’s Nest. With a fondness for whiskey and whippoorwills, he divides his time between the lights of Nashville and the woods of his native Kentucky.