I make a turkey sandwich
with a dab of cranberry
I change sheets, fluff pillows
wash his pile of pajamas
watch dreadful B-movies
all meaningless gestures
verging on ridiculous
like counting grains of sand in the Sahara
nothing will change the cold reality
of a red car that ran a light
what I really want to do is hold him
tightly in my arms
as though he were two again
and toss him back in time
instead I cut his toenails
and count grains of sand
Claire Scott is an award-winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has appeared in the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, and Healing Muse among other journals. Claire is the author of Waiting to be Called and Until I Couldn’t. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.