WAYS TO BREAK MY HEART
The first day of school, the small
clean shoes. A trail of glitter from the new
backpack. The pieces of us we cannot hold
onto. My mother texts, remember
when you were this age? Waist-high,
wide-eyed. Look at them go, and now my last
baby is a kindergarten name tag. Do not miss me,
I am with you. Somewhere in a long, polished hall
stop and think of me. As the years go on
and on. Open your lunchbox, I have made you
a tuna sandwich, the way you like. The crusts cut off.
—from Rattle #77, Fall 2022
__________
Katy Luxem: “I often come back to something Dorianne Laux said. ‘Good writing works from a simple premise: Your experience is not yours alone, but in some sense a metaphor for everyone’s.’ I frequently write about motherhood because it is deeply personal and yet also innately shared. My last child started kindergarten during the pandemic, and I thought about how my feelings were likely the same as parents everywhere, in some sense. We are always letting go. But in the little details, we get to stay.” (web)
