Rachel coughs in the room next to me
A mattress on the floor cradling her softly
As the air mattress beneath me dies a slow, excruciating death.
(I chose this for myself -
Rachel has a bad back, remember;
My own back groans in protest.)
We moved you from Cleveland to San Diego -
three days of driving
- Rachel and my competing energies warring silently the entire time,
Both wishing
The other
were not there.
I reflect on the number:
3.
It’s your brother’s jersey number
And everywhere in your mother’s house
(Ten years now since he chose
To leave this earth)
We three kings,
The magic number,
Prime.
A crowd.
Its my birth order
Three of Five
-the middle child-
Guess I’ve always been
The odd man out.
Feb 3, 2022
Feb 3, 2022 at 9:34 AM UTC
Rachel coughs in the room next to me
A mattress on the floor cradling her softly
As the air mattress beneath me dies a slow, excruciating death.
(I chose this for myself -
Rachel has a bad back, remember;
My own back groans in protest.)
We moved you from Cleveland to San Diego -
three days of driving
- Rachel and my competing energies warring silently the entire time,
Both wishing
The other
were not there.
I reflect on the number:
3.
It’s your brother’s jersey number
And everywhere in your mother’s house
(Ten years now since he chose
To leave this earth)
We three kings,
The magic number,
Prime.
A crowd.
Its my birth order
Three of Five
-the middle child-
Guess I’ve always been
The odd man out.
