Eye Sockets

all that mattered

were her burning eye sockets,

because they were the only things

that were so real

that she couldn’t will them away. 

so she did her homework

so she laughed real hard

so she washed her clothes

so she slept in her bed,

and she made bad jokes

and she made a few more

and everyone around her laughed

and everyone around her smiled

and she smiled back

and laughed at her own joke,

but all she could think of

were those two holes in her skull

searing the flesh around them

and swallowing her whole.