Susan Landgraf
Father
I've written about my buttocks blistered
from the willow branches you cut
by the train tracks. Coughed up
stutters and shrieks in my therapist's office.
It's time to learn how to Sabbath.
I want to tell stories about friends eating
lunch together. I want confetti in my days.
This week it was my four-year-old
great grandchild waving a sparkler
on the 4th, his eyes lit with the magic.
And I gave thanks, father, even for you.
We never said goodbye.
Tonight I listen to the songbirds
and pray to wake in the morning.
Bio
Susan Landgraf was awarded a $50,000 Poets Laureate grant from the Academy of American Poets in 2020. Two Sylvias Press published The Inspired Poet, a writing exercise book, in 2019. More than 400 poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, Margie, Nimrod, and others. Books include What We Bury Changes the Ground and Other Voices.