Cotquean
I’m sewing up tears
in my boxing gear:
a needle, black thread
and bachelor stitches.
I’m cross-legged
on the bathroom floor
while Pharaoh splashes
in the tub beside me,
a pink and laughing treasure
two years long.
I ran his bath,
undressed his happy body.
Now I wash his hair,
speak quietly through the screaming.
When I’m finished with this,
I need to sew a button
on his little striped pants,
then a patch on the knee
of his holy dungarees.
I set down my boxing glove
with its Frankenstein stitches
and try to stop the baby
from drinking his bathwater.
Christopher Jones
Christopher Jones founded Lost Prophet Press in 1992 and published the literary magazines Thin Coyote and Knuckle Merchant: the Journal of Naked Literary Aggression for many years. His work has been or will be seen in many venues, including Cajun Mutt Press, The Wild Word, Eunoia Review, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (St. Martin’s Press) and a flowerpot on the Detroit Lakes Poetry Walk.
He lives with his family, two cats and many dogs in West Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA.
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