I wish I knew
my mother
never stars
in her stories
lean as a zinnia
and just
as radiant
when she thinks
no one’s looking
she’s spent
her life
finding ways
to recede and
teaching me
I watch her
eat so
slowly
pressing
each bite
to the roof
of her mouth
before chewing
to make it
soft, silent
AMY BAGWELL’s poems are recently in Smartish Pace, Free State Review, Watershed Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, and New Ohio Review and are paired with art by Dawn Roe in the chapbook Wretched Yew (Theurgical Studies Press). A member of the Goodyear Arts Collective, she holds an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte. www.amybagwell.com