John M. Davis
Image by Julia Drost on Unsplash
John M. Davis lives in Visalia, California. His work has appeared in numerous journals, including The Comstock Review, Caesura, Gyroscope, Reunion: The Dallas Review, Bloodroot Literary Magazine, and West Trade Review. "The Mojave", a chapbook, was published by the Dallas Community Poets.
Disabilities
my three-year-old struggles
with getting up, putting on his clothes,
the shoes with Velcro straps —
unable at times to remember me.
I watch something like confusion spread
across his face, fear right behind,
only to have him scratch his head, annoyed,
not understanding, just wishing it would go away.
his mother did:
unable to hold the child we created,
embarrassed to stand beside him,
she left before his third birthday
after reading a story and sensing no change
in the room — not in him, not in anyone.
she wrote a note, confident
that no confidences would be breached,
that he would register nothing, say nothing,
accuse no one. she went
without observable consequence.
the time before, when she cradled the egg,
bore its weight, its swelling,
and rested her arms on his back
comforted by all Creation,
she seemed ready. she seemed able.
with the birth, it was as though he left her.
©2021 West Trade Review
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