Father
Shy in houndstooth, white hair and a smoke
piped out, he winks and nods and strokes
his beard to listen.
Doctor, I wouldn’t harm a hair on my father’s head.
His eyes water, nose clogs.
His nose has been trouble for years.
I see.
He plucks at his trousers,
pulls up a hair and holds it to the light—
Is this it?
Analysand
The watch swings by,
little clock with an eye.
Where are you now?
I’m rising from a field with birds,
the sky a low heaven.
What do you remember?
I got there late.
The clothes I brought her weren’t hers.
She couldn’t see. Her touch
told the truth: These don’t feel like mine.
But how could it matter, near death?
She called out your name, said the nurse.
A janitor, sweeping, stopped, pointed up.
I saw her go up over the roof.
Aides were taking the sheets from her bed.
Cause of Death: Inanition. She had stopped eating.
I’m hungry, she said after my birth.
They gave her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Best thing I ever tasted, she told me. Heaven on earth!
I told the nurse that wasn’t my name.
