Fifteen
My son, once afraid of thunder,
has gained the voice of his father—
until he speaks cat, head on fur’s belly,
tooth-sweet purring.
Held at arm’s length, an embrace
away, I am called to witness
a place, unscathed
by his war games, the punctuating
alarm of “damn it to hell,”
and strong-armed wrestling—
a place where he is safe, tending
the landscape of love.
He walks tall (taller than I)
into his room,
stroking cat
in his muscled arms.
May it be the practice field
for the quiet gesture,
the vulnerable “yes,”
the laughter of wild acceptance.
Bonnie Maurer has an MFA from Indiana University and is the author of Ms Lily Jane Babbitt Before the Ten O’clock Bus from Memphis Ran Over Her, (Raintree Press), Old 37: The Mason Cows (Barnwood Press) and Bloodletting: A Ritual Poem for Women’s Voices (Ink Press). Awarded a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship by the Arts Council of Indianapolis in 2000, Maurer wrote The Reconfigured Goddess, Poems of a Breast Cancer Survivor. She works as a poet for Young Audiences of Indiana, as a copy editor for the Indianapolis Business Journal and as an Ai Chi (aquatic flowing energy) instructor.