Poetry by Kenneth Pobo

A classmate told me to ask our teacher,
Mr. Dirmo, what a Kotex was.  I asked. 
Dirmo was going to tell us later

about volcanos—but he erupted
at 10 o’clock, lava flowing 
to my desk.  I should have known

to stop asking questions. 
I was learning how to x out
any expression.  He sent me to

the principal whose office ached
with papers and a black phone. 
He called my mom who didn’t see

what the problem was. 
We played Risk
when he suspended me for a day.

Kenneth Pobo (he/him) is the author of twenty-one chapbooks and nine full-length collections. Recent books include Bend of Quiet (Blue Light Press), Loplop in a Red City (Circling Rivers), Lilac And Sawdust (Meadowlark Press) and Gold Bracelet in a Cave: Aunt Stokesia (Ethel Press). His work has appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Asheville Literary Review, Nimrod, Mudfish, Hawaii Review, and elsewhere. 

Photo by Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition on Unsplash