Meghan Vesper
Inhale
Only the deer bedded down
in snow outside the nursery window
know my secret:
I no longer sleep.
My husband sleeps. M. sleeps –
but I am counter of exhales,
her rasp-gasp of breath.
I am the pulsing blue plume of the gas fireplace,
the spark of static between the sheets.
I am the one who watches her
gum the cold ‘O’
of the EMT’s stethoscope
as night swells around us. Where
do we go from here,
when even the air between us
is like a knife?
When the thrust of my palms
on the CPR dummy’s chest is not enough?
The morning of the two blue lines,
nine months ago, a woodpecker drummed
the maple with her blade-like beak,
and I envied her hollow safe haven,
how she’d fly fifty feet or more to store
unhatched eggs far from the nest,
far from what might kill it.
What brings us home doesn’t make a sound.
Meghan Vesper is a poet, mother, and occupational therapist. She is an avid nature lover and has a daily yoga and meditation practice. She received an MFA from the University of Maryland. Her work has appeared in the Tampa Review.
Return to September 2024 Edition
Only the deer bedded down
in snow outside the nursery window
know my secret:
I no longer sleep.
My husband sleeps. M. sleeps –
but I am counter of exhales,
her rasp-gasp of breath.
I am the pulsing blue plume of the gas fireplace,
the spark of static between the sheets.
I am the one who watches her
gum the cold ‘O’
of the EMT’s stethoscope
as night swells around us. Where
do we go from here,
when even the air between us
is like a knife?
When the thrust of my palms
on the CPR dummy’s chest is not enough?
The morning of the two blue lines,
nine months ago, a woodpecker drummed
the maple with her blade-like beak,
and I envied her hollow safe haven,
how she’d fly fifty feet or more to store
unhatched eggs far from the nest,
far from what might kill it.
What brings us home doesn’t make a sound.
Meghan Vesper is a poet, mother, and occupational therapist. She is an avid nature lover and has a daily yoga and meditation practice. She received an MFA from the University of Maryland. Her work has appeared in the Tampa Review.
Return to September 2024 Edition