Colleen Abel
My father ruled
the city of Tantalus,
which means that I was dangled
all through my babyhood
just beyond his armspan: my fat legs
swinging a bit, my fat hands
closing and unclosing as he tried to
reach out to me. This is
the lesson of fathers—
best to learn it quickly.
*
The lesson of mothers
takes a whole life.
*
I said,
Look at him, my son, my
little manifesto. Edible, beautiful.
I made him sit so
quiet for the still lifes.
All he wanted was for me
to run the cars across the carpet
and talk in funny voices.
I blew up their feeds with him.
Look at him, my son.
*
The woman in the coffee shop said,
Those eyelashes are wasted on him.
My mother said,
Never let him go anywhere alone.
A boy
that pretty?
*
All of us in the same story:
Children with breadcrumbs, children
in cinders, forgive us.
We will lock you in our tallest tallest towers.
*
This is the lesson
of mothers.
Love turns you
to stone.