Jim Pascual Agustin
Consuelo Garcia, please stop inviting my mother
to join you for a walk. She can barely shift
her weight in the chair or on the bed.
There are strangers who keep entering
her room uninvited, not uttering
a word to her, just standing around.
She shoos them away, desperately
asking them to leave her alone.
There are even unknown children
who climb into her bed, sitting
and staring at her. I don’t know how
she sees them when cataracts
have clouded her eyes for years now.
I’m not there to soothe
my mother’s fears.
Featured at The Red Wheelbarrow on 3 May 2022