AND YOU, DO YOU LOVE TOO?

I said

I think I said

I must have said

don’t cross

did I know

should I have known

did I email, call, text

stay on the sidewalk

he was far away

was he

ever

far from me

did I

do nothing

when I knew

I must have known

the driver sunblind

was it today

or Tuesday

or last week

I called out

did I

I must have

after all

he is my son

NOT REALLY A GAME, NOT REALLY

DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK
chants Kathy running
around the circle of girls
seated on the living room floor
I shrivel inside
make myself invisible
oh I am good at that
when Mama’s got the strap
coins missing from her purse
three nickels & a dime
for a root beer float with Sal
who sees swelling bruises & black eyes
& doesn’t ask
DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK
footsteps closer
soft pats on other’s heads
stifled giggles of relief
I pick at the scabs on my face
left by Mama’s long fingernails
last week when I forgot her
gin poured into a jelly jar
& set beside her bed
I feel the trickle of fresh blood
GOOSE!

Claire Scott is an award winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize
nominations. Her work has been accepted by the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary
Review, New Ohio Review, Enizagam and Healing Muse, among others. Claire is the
author of Waiting to be Called and Until I Couldn’t. She is the co-author of Unfolding
in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.