Poetry by Leland Seese
Insomnia glides over
like a nighthawk, drives me
from the shelter of my sleep.
My mind, a fleeing field mouse,
darts from worry to worry —
collection threats from creditors,
a rat encamped behind
the dishwasher, downspouts
clogged with maple leaves.
But then a memory comes
drifting in with solace
like warm milk,
my eldest son’s first step.
We were bundled in our
threadbare layers, to cut
the icy edges of December
in New Jersey. Some friends
had come for dinner, other
grad students from Canada,
Korea, not quite making it,
on short-term jobs,
under-table payments,
student aid.
Our lad quite suddenly
lifted and set down
one fleece-clad foot,
then fell into a safety net
of waiting hands.
Cheers rose friendly
as a hearth fire
where we sat
on sagging armchairs,
packing crates,
a sofa with no legs.
Tears these decades later
as I pull up covers,
tuck myself back in
beside my wife.
Leland Seese’s poems appear in Frontier Poetry, The Chestnut Review, RHINO, The Stonecoast Review, and many other journals. He is a third-generation Seattleite, and lives there currently. More of his poems can be found at www.lelandseesepoetry.com
Arcturus 