Playground (2021, Edition of 1)
A spoken word, media-rich poem by award-winning poet Ana Maria Caballero. From Caballero’s new manuscript, MAMMAL, which explores how biology delimits cultural rites. Her signature, straightforward verse gives voice to what’s left unsaid in that all-important space of home.
–
Playground
time
and small children
time
to think too much of
it
the child plays
you
squat and ruminate
time
disbursed as mother
apart
from yourself the child
wants
park with you only
you
you travel to park here
childscrambles you ponder only
me
but also them only
them
the other mothers who
smile
or do not it does not
matter
now now the minor
face
gapes down the major
slide
does not ask to be
caught
does not beckon
you
climb but you must
watch
for the slide to matter
is
the child right another
query
dashed at the
park
Originally published in SWWIM