"Alliterations" by Lisa Sultani

There is the grind of grief and there is also the rising. 

Yes

he had a mother too, as everyone does. 

What can it mean to have a mother, 

to lose a mother, to arrive in 

probate court with a mustache. 

When I stand beside a river’s wet bank 

            do I leap in or do I slither. 

My mother

would have asked me to lower my voice, 

or that’s how I think of her. 

Really the last thing she asked 

was through gritted teeth: 

end it quickly. 

As always I was helpless and 

for once I followed the rules. 

In my dreams she visits

I never remember the context

only

that she was here.

Ms. Sultani earned her MA in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. She currently resides in the metro Atlanta area, where she does her best to avoid the freeways. Her poems are included or forthcoming in CERASUS, Delta Poetry Review and Doubly Mad, among others.