The World, a Needle

Nothing can be done
to prevent the world,
a needle thinner than

the narrow breadth
of a newborn’s vein,
from pricking your finger.

And though you might
try hiding from it,
sequestering yourself

behind your home’s
quiet walls like an insect
ensconced within the

crinkled-shell swathe
of its chrysalis, the world
will make its puncture—

Matthew Drew Williams resides in Western New York, and is currently working to obtain his master’s degree in social work at Roberts Wesleyan College. His poetry has appeared in a number of publications, the most recent of which include: The Fat City Review and Banango Street. He also has poems forthcoming in Eunoia Review.