Mama, They Cry
Baby feverish screaming thing sick not its, her fault nights without
older child insecure clinging needing Mama, they cry craving his, husband’s presence
assistance gone alone with both lonely days without both fluish angry needing not
their fault hungry homework nights without can’t sleep, doesn’t doctor says just one
pill per small hands stretching, reaching must watch them closely always loads of
laundry hungry exhaustion just one pill bedwetting wakes older regression consoling
clean sheets back to bed can’t sleep, doesn’t days without teething tempers tantrums for
days exhaustion small hands stretching, reaching a slap tears nights without just one
pill not their fault waking to quiet cries bad dreams hungry missing daddy Mama, they
whine phone a scrape tears stitches should have been watching closer consoling should
have been just one pill one more missed school bus to get in time speeding pulled over
baby purple screaming thing days without signing his, husband’s papers one more pill
burnt breakfast both complaining needing hungry not their fault just one more mounds of
dirty laundry dirty dishes dirty diapers always one more pill bickering just one more
world blurs older has outgrown clothes needing one more world blurs baby closes
fingers in cabinet stretching, reaching needing should have been one more watching one
more Mama one more they cry world blurs quiets slips sinking passing away
hours without won’t wake, doesn’t Mama, they cry and cry sleep.
Amy L. Eggert is the author of Scattershot: Collected Fictions (Lit Fest Press 2015), a hybrid collection that redefines and re-envisions the trauma narrative. Additional recent publications can be found in Cardinal Sins, Bluffs Literary Magazine, and Festival Writer. She is currently coauthoring a book with Jane L. Carman that explores the mindset, stigma, and aftermath of suicide. Eggert teaches for Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.
