First it was one small dog, then it was two.
Somehow the cat.
Just when you thought your caretaking days
were done. Just when you thought
maybe I’ll go to Naples. The crowded market
the ink squid. I’ve always wanted to see Vesuvius.
The ash and fallen wreck of it. The stillness
of mummification.
Just when you thought you could donate your armor
to Goodwill, the house is full of creatures
all queuing up for a feast. Some whine, some pace,
some wait patient near the door.
Even your dead mother is there, standing at the end
of the line, holding her empty plate.
ELIXIR FOR A PERPETUAL CARETAKER
Katherine DiBella Seluja is the author of Gather the Night (UNM Press, 2018), poems that are dedicated to her older brother who lived with schizophrenia. She is co-author, with Tina Carlson and Stella Reed, of the collaborative poetry book, We Are Meant to Carry Water (3: A Taos Press, 2019), winner of the New Mexico/Arizona Book Award and Southwest Design Book Award. Recent work can be found in FENCE, Cutthroat and Revolution John. Her third book, Point of Entry, is forthcoming from UNM Press in 2023. Katherine is a poetry editor at Unbroken Journal and she lives and works in New Mexico.
…Another stunning poem by Katherine DiBella Seluja… takes my breath away.