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Sport 25: Spring 2000
An inept grandmother walks the floor
An inept grandmother walks the floor
Past midnight and to be discovered as
an imposter: not the mother who usually
comes to reach arms into the cot
but a grandmother in a long white nightdress
who has to stand silently while your eyes
close to blue resentful slits, flicker
then watch again: how long
can that slit last? And will someday
this be the image of a ghost?
On your second wakening I take
the little bottle of goat's milk from the fridge
warm it and carry you to the rocking chair
some ancient grandmother knowledge and you
scorning the bottle plunge against my breast
both a protest and a compliment
and as the light softens imperceptibly
we go on rocking until you accept
sleep again and the guardian by your cot.