Waiting
In the middle of a long hallway,
Mother and son sit
on the familiar wooden bench,
waiting for the doctor to see him.
She Combs his hair
with her fingers and spit
and reminds him to sit up straight.
She gives herself a Certs
to freshen her breath,
and puts one on his tongue
to occupy his mouth.
She pulls from her purse
two notebooks and two government pens,
keeping one of each
and giving the boy the other.
“Write a story for me,” she said with a soft whisper.
“Okay,” he said, swinging his dangling legs back and
forth.
Before returning to the unfinished letter
intended for her mother,
she watches the four year old boy
as he scrawls make-believe letters of his own
and constructs a pretend story from his imagination.
“Mommy, I’m gonna write something just for you.”
July 31st, 2005 at 6:12 pm
following your instructions I was able to read ALL of the poem. Thnanks. love…. 7/31/05