If I could start again I would be something
else, a nurse on shifts so I could still
help and be home for putting them
to bed or I would use my hands more
and learn electrical systems or better
yet be a plumber and like my grandfather
have a trade and know about gaskets and
unclogging and not only be able to fix
things but have the kind of job where
people are only ever happy to see you—
I want to bring that kind of unrestrained
relief and joy to you so when I show up
at your door and unclog your one toilet
or drain your sink I am really fixing your
entire day, and what’s more I would be
showing you just how simple it could be
to suffer, make a call, and then have me
fix it all and you can go back into your
day, into your house and love it with
renewed vigor, it works now. It works.
Staring at the Job Board While My Son Applies to Be a Line Cook
Emily Franklin’s work has been published in The New York Times, The London Sunday Times, Guernica, The Cincinnati Review, New Ohio Review, Blackbird, Epoch, Mississippi Review, and The Journal among other places as well as featured on National Public Radio, Long-Listed for the Sunday Times Short Story Award, and named notable by the Association of Jewish Libraries. Her debut poetry collection TELL ME HOW YOU GOT HERE was published by Terrapin Books in February 2021.