burn from a lightbulb

she admits the glass
she has squeezed too tight—

somehow she cannot bring herself
to speak about it, this accident,
to anything animate. instead she caresses

herself. her splintered hand. she tweaks
the platelets of glass, embedded—
her hand sparks, it whimpers

pangs it cannot bury in nerves.
she admits glass but only to glass.
she hides from her parents

the silly thing she did (squeezing
a lightbulb, tainting her hand,
letting it heal over. burn from

a little bulb’s touch, yes, but mostly
from breaking it. sowing beneath skin;
letting it grow in her.)