Metacognition

Let's workshop this bitch!

Metacognition

Unkindled to laughter
by the faces meant
to make it laugh,
 
and yet still taken in
by the dedication
of the attempts, 

the infant—deeper
into reflective curiosity
than it has ever been—

takes on a distant
smile, subtle like
the furrows of its brow.

*This poem first appeared in Cholla Needles (2022)

Photo Credit: harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/125775