Unfinished Business
by Diane de Anda
My min pin nurses on a stuffed animal,
his jaws splayed wide across its fleecy back,
his front paws pumping back and forth
to summon imaginary milk
for a hunger that does not rise from his belly.
He is almost three years old,
but each day he is that wisp of fur
cupped in my hands on the ride home,
held warm against my breasts
hunting for his mother’s milky scent.
I talk to my own mother every day
though she’s been dead for thirty-three years,
hold her memory warm against my breasts.
I see his face buried in the plush belly
and know closure is a myth.
Diane de Anda is a retired UCLA professor, third generation Latina and has published academic articles, short stories, poetry, essays and satire for adults, as well as eight children’s books and children’s poetry.
Home
by Glenna Luschei
Dog at my pillow.
Dog at my feet.
My own toothbrush.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2014 by Glenna Luschei, “Home.” Poem reprinted by permission of Glenna Luschei. Introduction copyright © 2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004- 2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts..
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