Michelle Brooks
Since God Could Not Be Everywhere
It looks cold out there, my mother said,
whenever skies went overcast,
forcing us into layers and jackets,
no matter the temperature. I loved
this sweet maternal tick in a woman
whose own life had offered little
in the way of benign comforts. It’s another
Mother’s Day, and she’s still gone. I guess
that’s not going to change. When she felt
stressed, my mother made lists, Things To Do
Today and From The Desk Of scraps littered
the house, some items never crossed.
I think of my own lists, the ones written
between the lines. And when the sky clouds
and it’s warm, I find myself chilled, as if
the way it looked were enough to make it true.
Michelle Brooks has published a collection of poetry, Make Yourself Small, (Backwaters Press), and a novella, Dead Girl, Live Boy, (Storylandia Press). Her work has appeared in Iowa Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Threepenny Review, and elsewhere. She has just finished a book of photographs titled Illusion Warehouse.