his mother made an Almost Boy out of clay
moulded him little ears and a button nose
and eyes that were almost like a boy's but
not quite enough
still, every night as the Almost Boy's mother
read to him from the big book she kept
on the mantle just out of reach, she
would place a kiss oh so gently on his
smooth clay head and say she loved him
almost as much as she'd love a real boy
