It has a little clasp to keep it shut,

to keep things from getting out.

At the foot of my bed, it opens

like the maw of a yawning tiger.

If you clear aside the trousers, the schoolbooks, the trinkets,

you’ll find a little notebook

where i keep my secret thoughts.

My questions, the ones I'm not allowed to have.

I have to keep them in the book,

fugitives from my waking mind.