Day: June 21, 2023

cohabitantcohabitant

Tetman Callis 0 Comments 5:13 pm

fetal lymphocytes can persist in the mother’s blood for twenty-seven years
or so i’ve been told
so part of me was still inside my mother
pumping through her heart
flowing through her fingertips
when my father taught me to ride a bike across a green field my seventh summer

still inside my mother when the freckled older boy
impressed upon me middle-school’s pecking order
still inside my mother when snaggle-toothed regina
held me close at the high-school dance
still inside my mother on college graduation night
black-robed and mortar-boarded
rolled diploma in my hand

still inside my mother on a cloudy late-summer morning in texas
while i stood outside a pharmacy’s door
regina standing beside me
her hand on the rough brick wall while she threw up on the sidewalk
an after-effect of the quick operation to remove from within herself
that which left her with fetal lymphocytes still persisting in her blood

(Copyright 2023 by Tetman Callis.)

the physics of sudden marital failurethe physics of sudden marital failure

Tetman Callis 0 Comments 6:04 am

my life blew up in my face
i never heard a sound
there was a flash and still

i can’t see
my eyes are burned
burning

shards that had been my life blew off
i grabbed at them buzzing by my head

trying to catch an explosion
eyes on fire
white blinded

me reaching
reaping the air
the fragments i catch are hot
jagged

molten steel life tearing through my hands
speeding away from me

(Copyright 2023 by Tetman Callis.)

Tetman Callis 0 Comments 6:02 am

“‘Defective’ was a big word in our house. Many things were labeled ‘defective’ only to miraculously turn functional once the directions had been read more thoroughly.” – Tina Fey, Bossypants