The Significant Breadth of Breath
written by: Jordan Trethewey
@JTpoetlaureate
After Ann Manuel’s art installation, “Breath,” 2024
Grandmother plants her vegetable
garden behind the lawnmower shed
that holds a scythe to keep wild hay
at bay. Each swing releases seed to sky
ensuring my future labour. She eats
what she is surprised to grow
in brittle earth on rural street corner.
No matter the quantity, breathe aromatic
hodgepodge aroma rising at season’s
end. The over-ripe contain potential
to distinguish themselves next spring.
***
We hack our way to Lake Holbart’s edge,
the future home of Mother’s Loon Haven
vision. Saplings and needles, break falls,
become trampled underfoot. In this shady
sanctuary we picnic, inhale spruce sap,
exhale effort. Cut, move—the subtraction
and addition of progress brings the family
sextet one step closer to a time when
older bones, too tired to swim, relax
in aesthetic of getaway well-built
with room for generational additions.
***
Despite the courage of conviction
on our theatrical altar, breathing
becomes difficult, quick. Anxiety’s
duality excites, panics. Lightheaded
fight or flight. The sight of her steadies.
No fear of tears. Breathe to bolster
beginning of a bumpy road on which
we will occasionally stumble
into the ditch of sharp thistle
while carving well-worn grooves.
***
First date day trip with future son.
Pollen of parental expectation floats
like our bodies in this foreign lake. We
tread gingerly around the large rock
of why we are there, together. Strangers
on this sunny day holding their breath
when he says, Let’s play a game.
I’ll be the son. You be the dad.
***
Standing in the surplus equipment/
delivery room, I hold my breath. Wife
labours with hers. Both wait for our
six-week-early bird to take her first
in the sterile hands of an anonymous nurse.
Initial squawk comes swift as daughter
is whisked away to nestle in incubation nest.
Skin-to-skin schedule alleviates anxieties
until collective inhalations synchronize
during weeks in NICU sanctuary.
- The Significant Breadth of Breath - November 23, 2024
- Hemingway Vs. Stevens - April 25, 2024
- Going Dutch: A Stir-fried Shakespearean Crown of Sonnets - September 25, 2022
