CORONATION: HERE AND NOW
Personal effects atrophied:Gloves, purse, glasses, hat,
Dormant items splayed,
At rest, stay at rest.
We don’t leave the house
For days, then weeks,
Learn something sad
About objects
Once possessed by
Souls gone long
Inanimate.
Making my sons’ beds
Most mornings past,
Heartspace ache as
They rode to school
Strapped tight into
Two tons of metal and glass
Behind a new driver
Navigating
Predawn haze.
What if these sheets lay inert?
Tender momentum
Ground to dust?
The pain of touch:
A treasured hoodie,
Guitar pick, joystick, blanket, book,
Too heavy for fingers.
Of all blessings,
Being here now
Is greatest.

Bridget Healy writes poems, songs, essays, and fiction whenever inspiration strikes. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, honing her craft with the help of amazing instructors and peers. Ms. Healy’s works in progress include “Mar,” a picaresque novel of historical fiction (“a literary bodice-ripper,” according to reviews) set on the cusp of revolution in Normandy, France, and a memoir entitled “Work Diary of a Gen X Slacker.”
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