Mother’s Back

by Garry Gay and Michael Dylan Welch

First published in Mariposa #40, Spring/Summer 2019, page 17. Originally written in the late summer and early autumn of 1997 via email. Download or view the “Four Rengay” trifold, where this rengay also appears, on the Trifold Downloads page.

broken string—

the floor covered

with worry beads Garry

a chain letter

tossed into the trash Michael

snapped apart . . .

I get the wishbone’s

short end Garry

last date—

we split our chopsticks

in silence Michael

she studies herself

in the cracked mirror Garry

rain splatters

the uneven sidewalk—

I break my mother’s back Michael