Mermaids
we were going to take the boat out, sail
to the edge of the world, tease
the monsters waiting there with our
bare, dangling feet, toes tickling the ocean skin
like tiny pink fish
but you had to go and ruin it
chase shore-hugging mermaids instead
had to search clam-shell bikinis for pearls
find out where baby mermaids come from
we were going to become pirates
treasure hunters, world explorers
wrestle giant squid at the world’s edge
find the fountain of youth
but you had to go and spoil everything
in your search for suburban normalcy
chase dreams of apron-clad mermaids
who’d give up their kingdoms for you.
Brand New
I threw away
everything that came
before he
was in
my life so
I could pretend
that I was brand new
just like the baby
I held in
my arms, just
like the perfect
baby that somehow
came out of me
The Last Day
I hid the baby beneath the floorboards, prayed
for his quiet. I stretched out over the spot, covered his hiding place
with my body, whispered to my son through the rough timbers
don’t cry. please don’t cry.
footsteps rattled past the door, and I covered
my head with a pillow, my body
with a quilt. if anyone looked in through the door or the window
they’d just see a messy room. if they came into the house
they’d see me.
night came, and I could smell smoke seep into the house
could hear people running, screaming past the window
gunshots and heavy machinery. I pulled the sleeping baby
out of the hole in the floor, woke him to nurse
prayed for rain.
oh, these went right ‘in there’ (‘write in there’ … sorry); ‘mermaids’: it was easy to see how ‘you’ got distracted with the mermaids when you mentioned the pink similarities; was ‘Brand New’ from one of the mermaid’s perspectives; ‘The Last Day’ – I’m just sorry