I read a novel
Instead of sitting next to my mute father
His voice taken by cancer.
Did I not want to think of his demise?
He wouldn’t die before I would see him again.
He wouldn’t do that.
A trashy novel, a paperback romance.
Why didn’t I go to the hospital
That night
To see my mother
I ignored her, my daughter
Sitting home alone while I was out,
I thought she’d rather be alone, or with friends,
Than to be with me, her mother.
Why would someone want
To be with me?
I didn’t think he’d die
I’d had a glass of wine
She had her friends
Why would anyone care
If I were there?