The Keening
On the mountain I began coaxing you
To want to live beyond me.
We didn’t agree on the untangling
So our moving up the mountain
And then down again was still
Simply me catching you with
Some confused imprecision
Still lovely, still loving.
I got you to the hospital,
A two hour drive and all
My tenderness
Thinking your digestion
Wasn’t operating as if you were
starved. Thinking you might
Store my tenderness like fat
In your cheeks.
How did you come to process
My love like that?
There’s a moment when it’s not
The child loving anymore.
I’ve always needed you to grieve that.
Althea Seloover, 2020