by David LaBounty

my nine year old
asked me what
an orgasm is

and I was
absent for
the answer

I was typing
words on the
screen while
he was watching
another screen

so he asked me again

he asked me,
dad, what’s an orgasm?

and I found
shelter in
my absence
and said,
I didn’t know

and he said,
yes you do, you know everything

I shrugged my
shoulders and
left my absence
but only
for a moment
the way one
leaves the
umbrella
to barely
touch the rain

I turned my
eyes to the
ceiling
and said,

an orgasm
is the
tool that
god uses
to keep
creation
moving,
kind of
like the
way the
earth opens
just enough
to swallow
the seed
dropped
by the tree

my son looked
at me and said,

dad, I don’t think
that’s what it is