Carrying Someone You’d not Seen in 15 Years
The body goes light, as if keeping a piece of paper, soft and awkward in your arms. There is a pulse and so you continue. They are without words or sounds. You imagine calling a hospital and screaming into the phone at the ER nurse to put your mother on the other end. It is night time, isn’t it always? And you are in a hotel in New York City, two days past Valentine’s, and one day past the anniversary, the first year your parents did not dance around the room, your mother hovering over your Father’s shoes as if she were already.
Millicent Borges Accardi, a Portuguese-American writer, is the author of three poetry books, most recently Only More So (Salmon Poetry). Her awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), CantoMundo, the California Arts Council, Yaddo, Fundação Luso-Americana, and Barbara Deming Foundation.
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