Issue #14 – Page 3 – PLEASE SEE ME

Nightfall_PSM14_Poetry-Tabor Flickinger

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Nightfall by Tabor Flickinger Nightfall Black stitches pierce her throat Anchor the IV threaded Down to her heart A bold hole cut with urgent Strokes clasps the white tube Of tenuous breath Her wife pulls the covers up To her neck where a sterile art Worked the flesh Over starched sheets and parched Brittle limbs she spreads the new Creation they sewed Each patch a fragment of their lives Transformed to saffron stars Tabor Flickinger reads “Nightfall”: Tabor Flickinger is a poet and primary ...

Cables-and-Carabiners_PSM14_Poetry-Lorraine Jeffrey

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Cables and Caribiners by Lorraine Jeffery Cables and Carabiners Holiday card displays, in leotard colors of magenta and glittered gold, convey messages— tender, amused, caustic. Twin holidays— Mother’s Day ascends ladder rungs to Father’s Day. For years, I bounced babies in front of these racks, pondering, considering, selecting mine and making sure the much-loved son didn’t miss the trapeze swing. Choosing the exact card to match my mother’s smile or his father’s grin. Trying to anticipate misty-eyes or belly laughs. Now, my chalked hands grip a bar and I ...

HumanBody60Water_PSM14_Poetry-Judith Waller Carroll

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 The Human Body is 60% Water by Judith Waller Carroll The Human Body is 60% Water Perhaps that explains why my legs want to swim rather than carry me forward, why my hips have forgotten the rhythm of walking. Once my brain savored the sky, each cadence of birdsong. Now it’s only aware of motion and muscle, each watery bone, as I gingerly make my way down this straight line of sidewalk as if it were a steep, wooded trail, determined ...

OLD_PSM14_Poetry-Miriam Bassuk

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 O.L.D. by Miriam Bassuk O.L.D. “You suffer from O.L.D.” The doctor tosses off this disclaimer to discount my newest symptom. I’ve started to cringe at friends a decade or more older, whose gait has slowed, their balance challenged, leading to frequent falls. It’s a watershed moment to mourn what we see in the mirror. It’s not the creases or wrinkles, or the flabby neck. It’s the failures, the new pace, s l o w ed way down, muscles that refuse to ...

2Poems_PSM14_Poetry-Laurie Rosen

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Two Poems by Laurie Rosen An Apple a Day requires 1.5 units of insulin in a syringe that pierces her tiny arm. A trade-off for a snack consumed to keep the doctor away. I read all the books on mothering, Spock, Brazelton, Leach. Nothing prepared me. Here, take the needle, practice on an orange, said the doctor. An orange doesn’t stare with tearful eyes, doesn’t plead, Please, Mom, no! Our blackberry patch grows thick with fruit and thorns. We greedily nosh, filling ...

My-Soldier-My-Son_PSM14_Poetry-Diane Funston

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 My Soldier, My Son by Diane Funston My Soldier, My Son (his war against childhood mental illness) At war, voices of authority command him to act. He seeks to draw blood, maim and alter the plans of what went before, leaving a barren field where dreams once grew green and reached for sun. Napalm spreads quickly beneath the shelter of skull. At peace, he rests his head on my weary shoulder. Watching the tv flicker more ...

Recipe-for-Madness_PSM14_Poetry-Angela Y. Law

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Recipe for Madness by Angela Y. Law Recipe for Madness Based on “Translating the Crip” by Laura Hershey I need no explanation short of miracle but still you ask I’ll tell you my secret When I say sick I mean nobody can save me if you deny my power When I say magic I mean dancing and talking to myself for days When I say survival I mean waking up but leaving brothers and ...

Father-of-Mine_PSM14_Poetry-Dave Malone

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Father of Mine by Dave Malone Father of Mine I’ll soon forget it: what is there I have not forgot? —James Schuyler My father phones (he’s not one to text) to ask about last summer’s expedition to our ancestor’s grave—William Whitney, he says, but I know he means another relative, the preacher on his mother’s side. “Ninety miles through rice fields we drove. Do you remember?” he asks. And his voice lies down quiet in the unknowing, just shallow breathing ...

Books-and-Galaxies_PSM14_Nonfiction-Millie Sparks

Nonfiction Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Books and Galaxies by Millie Sparks e can’t get your medicine,” the pharmacist had said. That was all. But I was panicked. When you have schizophrenia, simply trying a new medicine could result in months and months of failures. Hadn’t my whole life been a big enough failure without this added stress? All first-generation anti-psychotics were in a shortage status. The FDA’s simple and very helpful reason was ...

Issue #14: Acceptance