Insurmountable
Click below to hear me read this poem.
The water boils down my back and I am glad of it
I examine my shins with pleasant surprise
Finding only the faintest bruises
Perhaps thanks to that new health concoction
I turn off the water pleased with my discovery
The sound of the shower is replaced with sobs
I call to my son and jump from the tub
He is sitting on my bed dripping with tears
“I can’t get them back in, the little black things”
My buckwheat pillow lays open in his lap
A thousand tiny hulls surround him
Insurmountable to a three year old
“I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
I sweep the tears away with kisses
It’s ok little man, the vacuum will fix it
The sobbing is replaced with screams
Confused by the shower’s steam
The plastic guardian becomes the devil’s spawn
Filling the air with shrieking protests
Mop handle, then broom handle violently jab
delicately poke, prod and finally whack
The painful siren never ceases
Little hands cover little ears
I open doors and widows to no avail
Its only steam, you stupid machine
In a moment of clarity I take up the broom
This time to fan the steam away
Sweet golden silence and a child's smile reward me
I drag the vacuum from the closet, it fights me
A good yank and it slams me across the shins
The noise of this machine now fills the room
My daughter looks too tired to be irritated
My son now giddy, his sins quickly disappearing up the tube
We lay down finally in the much needed silence
She breaks it this time with her seven year old’s wisdom
“I feel there is something missing in our world.
Not the big world, our little world.
I miss the good old days with Dad.”
I kiss her much too beautiful face
Mommy wasn’t happy then honey
“But I was.”
Bruises, screams, tears and a thousand little black things
Crawl inside me