Blankets

By Ben Boruff

I used to make sense of the world through needle points

pinpricks of light

coming through a soft, warm blanket in my mind

like polka dots.

I liked that.

But now the blanket is old and worn

and the dots have become holes

and the needles have been replaced by thick, metal rods

poking and ripping my blanket

until it is shreds of cloth,

trying and failing to block the light.

It is blinding.

And my eyes hurt.

Ben Boruff is a high school English teacher who writes poetry and indie comic reviews. He was a 2018 Yale Educator Award Recipient, and he participated in Chicagoland’s This Is My Brave event, a live collection of shared stories designed to end stigmas surrounding mental illness. He has a cat named Roundabout (who was found near a roundabout).