Sara Ries Dziekonski
INVISIBLE
My son has swallowed the potion
that makes him invisible I scan the room
say Where’s Teddy?
Where’s my gooooobs?
When he’s ready to bring himself
back he giggles shouts Boo—
my mother is invisible
I know she is here by her visits
like yesterday on my walk to pick up Teddy
a ladybug landed on my favorite bright blue
leggings my mother’s way of saying Oh
Sara those look nice on you look at your legs
can we trade like she said so many times
with a smile that opened windows
At the school Teddy’s classmate plays
in a happy camper tee shirt The last thing
my mother wore before the hospital gown
and before her body bloomed to ashes
was a soft thin sweatshirt that said happy camper
with streams of tiny colorful caravans
Overdabidating she would say as she danced
around and exclaimed I’m a happy camper—
you see my mother is here
just invisible
and I will spend the rest of my life searching
for the ways she whispers
Boo—
Sara Ries Dziekonski was named Runner-Up in the Press 53 Poetry Award for her latest manuscript, Today’s Specials, which was released in September of 2024 as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection. Her poems have appeared in Slipstream, Potomac Review, LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas, Connecticut River Review, and SWWIM Every Day, among others. She is the co-founder of Poetry Midwives Editing and Submission Services.