December 2020
Bio Note: In this year of Covid, unrest, isolation, fire, and flood, I am more aware of, and grateful
for, the small, soothing, quotidian aspects of life. Here are two poems from my manuscript-in-progress.
Food
A banana, one day past green,
sliced into a bowl
with Cheerios and a spoon
of granola, then covered
with milk, is good
for breakfast and plain
enough to be communion.
Compression
I ease new socks from toe to calf to knee to keep the threat of clotting blood at bay— good for airplane travel in cramped space, good for long days working on my feet. I have to say I like the way they hug my legs and wish these socks could reach my hips and grow beyond to case my body whole with touch, the way I swaddled my sweet babes in flannel for the calm of binding tight. Who among us wouldn’t crave a firm embrace when flesh forgets the path to keep itself in place?
Originally published in Nerve Cowboy, Spring 2020
©2020 Donna HIlbert
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the
author (email address above) to tell him or her. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is the beginning of community at Verse Virtual.
It is very important. -JL