Poem of the Month

February​

1-75 South​

​

Several miles pass

without anything of significance

​Through the windshield, the sky

is cloudless, colorless, only bright

A neon ribbon above the tree line

disappears when you blink

February, but Florida​

In the passenger seat, your dad sings

fragments of worship songs

and mutters I love you

towards his window, not because he is eighty

but because he has always done that

He digs a wrinkled hanky

from his back pocket and honks--

he has always done that too​

A photo shimmers like a mirage,

everyone in their pajamas on Christmas morning

Your mother gazes down through 

the soft red gold curls of her 80's perm

at your cherubic brother in her lap

You and your twin, in matching braids,

prepare smiles for the camera,

old enough to know that your dad

is snapping a memory

You've poured together over your own baby albums,

stroller rides and snow days

from before Florida

You don't recognize the sidewalk, the buggy,

the blue plaid couch,

but you know which one is her

and which one is you​

Your mom is four months gone now

which is why it's only your dad

beside you on the way back from Tampa

He has a new memory on his phone,

his arm around your freshman daughter

by a fountain

"I should have taken one of you," he says

You keep your attention

on the glittering asphalt,

avoiding the ever-present regret in his eyes

the over said apologies

Now there is grief too,

which you can't begrudge him,

which you share

"It's okay," you say

You were there, behind the camera,

and you don't need a photo to remember 

2/16/25​ 

June  

Annual Enrollment

In a conference room,

you gather compulsorily with your coworkers

as a smart dresser with a marketing degree,

goes over the Plan Options,

your Deductibles and Copays and Prescription Drug Benefits,

and tells the sort of aggressively personal stories

you might hear from a politician or a slick evangelist

This year’s rep reveals his fear of blood

in an anecdote about a car accident,

after which he laughs,

See, I am human, just like you,

which, until that moment, you had taken as a given

​2/4/16