My Father in Maine, 2013, by Mary Warren Foulk

​It is that twilight hour of orange sun 
sparkling across an August lake.
My father watches this familiar postcard
from a faded raft close to shore, 
as awed as I am observing him 
in this dazzling, dimming light.  
Shadowed by the glare, 
he is near skeletal, 
bare skin covered loosely
by a sun-bleached bathing suit tied 
with knotted string impossible for hands 
now incapable of stillness. 
Once, his athletic swimmer’s frame 
carried me effortlessly to bed
despite my struggle against the day’s fatigue 
and the thought of letting him go, 
secure in the nestle of his woolen sweater 
thin at the elbows with mixtured hints 
of Old Spice and cedar chest,
his soft voice lulling me into childhood sleep
when ten uninterrupted hours, 
a window’s moon, and the safe innocence 
of cotton sheets promised our
tomorrow.

Mary Warren Foulk has been published in VoiceCatcher, Cathexis Northwest Press, Yes Poetry, Arlington Literary Journal (ArLiJo, Gival Press), and Palette Poetry, among other publications. Her work has also appeared in (M)othering Anthology (Inanna Publications) and My Loves: A Digital Anthology of Queer Love Poems (Ghost City Press). Her chapbook, If I Could Write You a Happier Ending, is forthcoming from dancing girl press (2021). A graduate of the MFA Writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Mary lives in western Massachusetts with her wife and two children. She is an educator, writer, and activist.