Anne M. Terashima
Rounding Out Our First Full Calendar Year
In December’s morning darkness I spill my coffee, blot dark
liquid with a questionable washcloth from the kitchen sink. Think
This is what I get for once again contracting strange
equations—self + child, unraveling + entwinement—down to
If I’d only known or even If only I’d known better.
Yesterday she danced
to the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas,
stance wide and slowly rocking from foot
to foot, head down and swaying as if absorbed
in serious business. Me on the floor, back against the couch,
surrounded by board books and bagel crumbs: drained,
enthralled. I make myself another cup, my daughter still
asleep. Savor the bitter warmth, the slow awakening.
Anne M. Terashima lives in South Jordan, Utah, with her spouse and daughter. Her work has appeared in Cutthroat, Glassworks, and Poetry East.