By Mary Freericks
Bradley’s breath
and fingerprints
translucent
on my French doors
since Easter.
I keep urging myself
to wash off his breath,
left on the glass
just at the height of his
three-year-old mouth.
Three weeks now
and I haven’t touched
the Windex.
Bradley restless from
chocolate bunnies
my flashlight on the
floor between
uneven mattresses
as he offers me his stuffed toy.
I comfort him in the now
dark living room.
So close we close our eyes
and float apart.
Mary Freericks is the author of three volumes of poetry: Blue Watermelon, Cheer for Freedom, and Furs for a Vegetarian. She has an M.F.A. in poetry from Columbia University School of the Arts. Two of her poems, “Dream” and “The Bombing of Tabriz,” were made into films by WildSound.