Susan Keith

A FESTIVE HOLIDAY PHOTO

mother depends
upon

a festive holiday
photo

so I pose stiffly
smiling

beside the blank
space

where my sister
should be

* * *

CHRONICLES FROMTHE LAND OF MAYBES

Surrounded by loved ones, the white coat whispers, studies have shown.
One foot stumbles, unpredictable becomes the horizon, which waking I may not see.
Diagnosis certain is when certainty crumples, crushing expectations into the unknown.

Manila charting uncharted waters, measuring waves crashing far off a temperate zone.
I sing a lullaby and my body electric’s wiring plays a different tune -- I drop the baby.
Surrounded by loved ones, the white coat whispers, the studies were overblown.

We all live in a land of maybes at the eroding shores of lapping Lake Unbeknown.
Marquee spells From Here to Eternity. You want my seat? I’ll pay your admission fee.
Diagnosis certain is when certainty crumples, crushing expectations into the unknown.

I’ve sat in the car, garage door down, key ready to ignite ignition, but I postpone.
I’ve broken pearl necklaces over maybe-laden boughs of a bitter orange sour apple tree.
Surrounded. To my loved ones, the white coat whispers, we’ll need to take her phone.

Agnostic foxhole prayers: Cure me Father, expunge my sins, I’m ill, I will atone.
I watched too much TV, believed in ending happy, forgetting the part about no guarantee.
Diagnosis certain is when certainty crumples, crushing expectations into the unknown.

Tiny lesions on the heart of my nerves, white-coated scars mark each expectation blown.
Rip the dis from able. Tear the dis from ease. How happy we’ll be
to crumple uncertainty, crush dashed expectations, transform the unknown --
surrounding and saving all loved ones, the white hat rides in astride her white stallion.

Susan Keith’s poetry, short fiction and essays have won awards and placements in numerous international literary contests. Her poems appear in anthologies and the minnesota review. She’s a top MS Walk fundraiser, supporting a cure and care for the disease she’s had for over sixteen years. Susan and her partner live in Oregon. "A Festive Holiday Photo" previously appeared in 2007 Fish Anthology (Fish Publishing).