Friday, August 14, 2026

Heather Romero-Kornblum

Cinderblocks


I don’t tell my son

How everything he thought

Could renew

Sprout green 

Was long gone

Dried shoots


I assembled bricks

From ashes

Props I hope last 

Until his adulthood

When the stage

Can be cleared






Drive


One of my first memories is riding

in a Toyota Tercel

my mom dropping me off

at daycare


I had deja-vu

on those car rides

before I knew what deja-vu was


Asphalt dome-covered hills

tree-lined grassy-patched

sidewalks 

Staten Island of the 80s


My mother said

I practiced words to myself

speaking them aloud

in the carseat in back


When I was dying,

she said my situation

was too stressful

she would rather not hear

about it

since she felt powerless

dipping out

of contact 

for awhile


Thousands of miles

away

I chose this life

practiced words

and all


I am not there yet



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