Tell everybody I’m still kicking and stomping,
just not quite as high.
Didn’t have much for lunch, had an avocado
for breakfast. Ran a rag over the counter,
nudged the broom across the bedroom floor.
Feet don’t move how they did.
Watched the ceiling
from her side of the bed.
Washed the pillowcase
from her side of the bed.
Unfolded a lawn chair beside the chicken yard.
The hens hate snow.
Woke up this morning,
found one of her combs
behind the toaster.
Not a bit of hair between the bristles.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 18, Issue 1.
Elijah Burrell received the 2009 Cecil A. Blue Award in Poetry and the 2010 Jane Kenyon Scholarship at Bennington College. Audio versions of Burrell’s poetry have recently been featured on both The Missouri Review’s and Sugar House Review’s podcasts. He resides in Jefferson City, Missouri, with his wife and two little girls, and teaches creative writing and literature at Lincoln University.
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