A Circular Arrangement
Whorl of dark hair on the scalp of my newborn
daughter Gigi, so thin her skin shows
through, and the red cloud of a rash. My life,
too, is a circular arrangement, a kind of circular
reasoning for one life to give meaning
to another. Gigi’s face averted, her cheek smooshed
in solemn, needful sleep is enshrined
in the white noise emanating from my iPhone
aglow among white leaves in the blue
print of the bedspread. I saw a photograph of myself
as a young man who could not imagine
having kids, the affirmation involved in that and now
I want a third magnolia to complete
the trinity of blooming trees.
The Geese
Twilight opens a window
on the drive home from Legend of Asia
with the kids in their car seats
for thousands of disparate geese flocks
for vast swarms to storm the house
momentarily vying for victory
over disbelief. I try explaining why that
letter of the alphabet to Theo,
who is learning his ABC’s, but can never
get a word in edgewise. I am overwhelmed
by their letters flapping crosswise
in this window between diagnosis and death.
Sun down, a helicopter crashed
just an inch beyond the burning horizon.
Cameron Morse (he, him) is Senior Reviews editor at Harbor Review and the author of eight collections of poetry. His first collection, Fall Risk, won Glass Lyre Press’s 2018 Best Book Award. His latest is The Thing Is (Briar Creek Press, 2021). He holds an MFA from the University of Kansas City-Missouri and lives in Independence, Missouri, with his wife Lili and three children. For more information, check out his Facebook page or website.