Today I dipped a round slice of cucumber
into a spoonful of French mustard.
While moving it from plate to mouth
the mustard flicked into my open eye.
We all laughed at the table because
it was the 90s and we were children
and my pain was sudden and hilarious.
There will be a lad on the school bus
in a few years who will drop his lunch
on the floor and we will all laugh
because his pain will be sudden
and hilarious. I will get a phone call
one afternoon and the sky will look
like the night. Sudden.

© Carl Burkitt 2023