Phone Calls and Skate Lessons
Illustration by Abby Baker
Phone Calls and Skate Lessons
T. named what she wanted
after another
heart-shiver
“everything”
stumble forward
like figure skates
on July grass
the giving’s gone dry
D. told me how
as a single parent they’ve got
a new resolution
to “daddy themselves free”
tighten laces around
the ankles no wiggle
room for weakness
how would steady feel
when we’re layering breaks
like the daily news
“record-breaking
burns across the coasts”
“polar vortex brings
its bitter cold” what can we do
but call each other
as N. said when our
“window of tolerance”
is in pre-freeze
relearning—a manmade lake
how long will it take the ice in us
to be solid
enough to bear it
With roots in the Midwest, Lila J. Cutter is a poet and educator now living in Portland, Oregon. Lila’s poetry can be found in Watershed Review, The Louisville Review, and Cathexis Northwest, among other journals. She teaches literature and creative writing workshops at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters and at Oregon State University, where she received her MFA.