& then she wailed & screamed & coughed on her own drool
by Emily Mohn-Slate
her face blotching red
so I tried the elephant the giraffe
the caterpillar her finger my finger
I opened the car window
& gripped her sweaty hand
& after the seventh song I tried
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY&Z
Now I know my ABCS Next time won’t you sing with me?
she stopped crying & stared at me & stayed that way
so I kept singing for 40 minutes
I was afraid to stop
her eyes on my eyes singing & looking
rocks grinding my throat jaw coming loose
I sang & sang & sang until
her eyes shut her hand loosened
as if she was falling
into the arms of a kind water
where I couldn’t find her
but she would be safe
& the red left her
how was your day? someone asked
& last night I bounced on the edge of a hotel bed
holding her in my arm’s crook
& under my breath I whispered
What the fuck What the fuck
please sleep please sleep please sleep
why why why why why why why
& my friend was pouring a bourbon for herself in her kitchen
& the face in the window across the street turned off the light
& the child in the boat cried for its mother
& a man came and took my child and said he would bounce her for me
& I said yes please help my child go to sleep
& my eyes burned
& I couldn’t find her
& I slept
so I tried the elephant the giraffe
the caterpillar her finger my finger
I opened the car window
& gripped her sweaty hand
& after the seventh song I tried
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY&Z
Now I know my ABCS Next time won’t you sing with me?
she stopped crying & stared at me & stayed that way
so I kept singing for 40 minutes
I was afraid to stop
her eyes on my eyes singing & looking
rocks grinding my throat jaw coming loose
I sang & sang & sang until
her eyes shut her hand loosened
as if she was falling
into the arms of a kind water
where I couldn’t find her
but she would be safe
& the red left her
how was your day? someone asked
& last night I bounced on the edge of a hotel bed
holding her in my arm’s crook
& under my breath I whispered
What the fuck What the fuck
please sleep please sleep please sleep
why why why why why why why
& my friend was pouring a bourbon for herself in her kitchen
& the face in the window across the street turned off the light
& the child in the boat cried for its mother
& a man came and took my child and said he would bounce her for me
& I said yes please help my child go to sleep
& my eyes burned
& I couldn’t find her
& I slept
Emily Mohn-Slate's recent poems are forthcoming or have appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Indiana Review, Cimarron Review, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. Her manuscript, The Falls, was a finalist for the 2016 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize offered by University of Pittsburgh Press. She teaches creative writing at Chatham University and lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.