"Take Care, Take Care, Take Care" by Donna Vorreyer

Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

A streak of days and weeks where all we get
are stares and clothes that reek and sag and calls
that tear our hearts in two: Where’s your mother?
When’s she coming back? Then he will retrace,
admit he’s just a bit off track, sleep and
sameness just erase what’s happened, cause him
to react. Then a sadness overtakes.
Anger next. He dials, berates us for his
current state. Then, contrite, apologies.
Sorries said for sorry’s sake. All of us
still tense and overtuned to grief. So much
at stake. So we muddle on, do our best
to keep him safe, ourselves at rest. She died
in June. Today, the first red autumn leaf.

Donna Vorreyer

Donna Vorreyer is the author of Every Love Story is an Apocalypse Story (Sundress, 2016) and A House of Many Windows (Sundress, 2013), as well as eight chapbooks, most recently The Girl (Porkbelly Press, 2018). Her poems and reviews have appeared in numerous journals, including Waxwing, Rhino, Quarterly West, Poet Lore, Diode, and Sugar House Review.

Headshot: Donna Vorreyer

Photo Credit: Staff