So That He May Step into the Tender Light

It's #tbt! Enjoy this great one from SWWIM Every Day's archives!

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Let his body down in our
grainy ribbons of light
along the bones of me.
On the ground, come morning the grasses will genuflect
with a dozen swirling constellations.

How silently a heart pivots on its hinge—

silent as the moment before the world was.
Eyes closed,
he falls into darkness,
receding from my grasp—
a person can die of motherhood.





Cento Sources: David Caddy, Kwame Davis, Dorianne Laux, Alison Croggon, Cynthia Brackett Vincent, Marcia Hurlow, Jane Hirshfield, Elvis Alves, Hedy Habra, Louis Gallo, Karen Bowles, Sage Cohen

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Marcia J. Pradzinski writes memoir, poetry, and fiction. She’s working on a memoir about raising a child with a disability, and has short pieces published on that topic featured in Overcoming (a 2013 anthology), Woodcrest, Kaleidoscope, and Harmony. She’s published two books of poetry: Left Behind (Finishing Line Press 2015) and As One Day Slips Out of the Shoe of Another (Kelsay Books 2021). She has a short story published in Meaningful Conflicts (a 2023 anthology). She lives in Skokie, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and enjoys watching for cardinals and woodpeckers in the neighborhood.