Sunday, April 22, 2012


Tears stream down my hot, sweaty cheeks
My arms, my back and legs sting
Burning, bright red welts rise
I rest my face on the cool tile floor
My hair sticks to my face, my neck, it falls into my mouth

The baby is strapped in her highchair
Crusted with strained peas and pureed chicken
She cries for her Sippy cup dropped on the floor
Banging her fists and banging her head
She cries, she shrieks, she kicks the legs of her chair

I see his feet dangle above the ground
She holds him up by his wrist with one hand
Her silver slotted spoon in the other
Swoosh-ka-thump  – a blow lands on his back
He writhers and twists in the air, unable to get his footing

Swoosh-crack – a blow lands on his elbow
Swoosh-thud – a blow lands on his thigh
Swoosh-ka-thump, swoosh-clunk, swoosh-thud

Crying, I push myself up on one elbow
I reach into the air
Stop, I cry, stop you’re going to kill him
Swoosh-crack, swoosh-thump, swoosh-thud
Please, please, please stop I cry covering my eyes

She drops him and settles into an overstuffed chair
We both lay on the ground, we can’t look at each other
She lights a cigarette taking a long, deep drag
The baby is strapped in her highchair, the Sippy cup on the floor
Feed your sister, she says, make her stop crying or I’ll do it for you

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The chair is really great!It looks comfortable.

7:46 PM  

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