Next

Asher is through nursing
He'd rather brush his teeth
with his sister

I was the last to give up the
nearness and routine
that demand mother and child
meet to say goodnight

to nurture one another
with family skin

In newborn hours
I would pray for the month
that would allow my body a reprieve

(devoted as it's been to forty-three months of
another's nourishment
pregnant
nursing
pregnant/nursing
nursing)

Only to find it grieves me
that my infant is a toddler
bow-legged boy crouching
to examine ants out of place
in his Grammy's kitchen