Four Years After Diagnosis
Sudden rain. Our heads
bowed together like monks
in this hot green place.
I study the slow script
of her movements. The cross
and uncross of her legs,
fingers forking together,
pulling apart. Secret dialect
of her face: a firefly flick
in the iris, lips curling
like kelp. Speak, mother.
Your daughter is listening.
Copyright Credit: Angela Narciso Torres, "Four Years After Diagnosis" from What Happens Is Neither. Copyright © 2021 by Angela Narciso Torres. Reprinted by permission of Four Way Books, www.fourwaybooks.com.
Source: What Happens Is Neither (Four Way Books, 2021)