My Mother at One

Vandal Poem of the Day: July 21, 2021

 by Brian Komei Dempster

I am the baby
erased

from every war

story. The wish
empty in Father’s

hands. Our cord torn

by razor
wire, skies of violet

plasma. I sense

boredom
in mosquitoes, the itch

beneath skin. Fall asleep

to the rake
of Topaz

wind, desert willows

bending over
the stone tablet

of earth. Nighttime

my body curled—
slashed by

the quarter

moon. Waves of heat
and waiting. My lips

on a bottle’s nib,

sand in
the face, Mother

stooped over

stairs, always
rocking me.
from SeizeFind more by Brian Komei Dempster at the library
Copyright © 2020 Brian Komei Dempster

Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Four Way Books.

Published in Brian Komei Dempster Poems

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