by Kevin LeMaster

she gazes down at the bowl,
her jaws already full

of the small circular oats
and grins, milk dripping

down her chin like a leaky faucet.
my wife warns that she needs

to eat more slowly, since
her teeth had to be

removed several years
ago, while their Mother

was still alive.

now she lives for cereal,
coloring books, Cartoon

Network, she scribbles blue
red and green onto pictures,

all three crayons in between
arthritic fingers, scratching the page

hard enough to snap the wax in two.
when she mentions their Mom

she thinks She’s off somewhere
and suggests we go and get Her

so She can yell at her for doing
something she ought not do,

anything to hear Her frustration,
anything just to hear Her say

I love you, again.

Kevin’s poems have been published in Sheila-Na-Gig Inc. online, Gyroscope Review, Hive Avenue Literary Journal, Main Street Rag, Barely South Review, Mantis, The Amistad, and others. Kevin’s second chapbook In The Throes Of Beauty (Finishing Line Press) was released in November 2024. Kevin is the author of the chapbook Mercy (Arroyo Seco Press, 2023) and has been nominated for a Pushcart twice and once for a Best of the Net.