Planning
just like the dying grass / my father’s skin peels / his toenails are long / & I can’t remember what his face / used to do when I asked / a question / his calves used to flex / & become mice / searching for food / he sits on the bed / counts to three / tries to get up but / he usually has to do it again / he screens his slippers / thinks how the fleece has clumped / & wonders where his wife is / at this time / thirty-five years from now / she is in Ohio / watching leaves paint themselves / & feeds her sister / my father wears only gray shorts / at this time & holds his hands / on his hips when he is hungry / I crush a cockroach in his sink / I start the talk again / he says that he doesn’t believe in bug spray again / I nod & allow his gnome tendencies / and then I say again / maybe it’s time for a retirement home / & he smudges the window with his nose / as he waters his tomato plant / he used to buy me roses for my birthday / one for each orbit / he used to draw pictures of me & my brother / now he is always looking for cheese / & drops a pencil every time he tries to hold one
