On Mother’s Day, Gabby Asks Me What Superpower I Wanted But Didn’t Get
I immediately think of Superman but
decide I really don’t want to see through
your clothes or jump over your building
or lift a walrus with one hand but then
I think it would be nice to have the power
to save myself from myself and maybe
you from yourself but then we get into
ethical issues and politics, religion and so on
and God knows what trouble even
the simplest power can cause not to mention
the super part. I wanted to save my father
from his bad heart my mother from old age
my daughter from alcohol my wife from leukaemia
but I had no life ring to toss no rope long enough
to get the job done though I wish I had more love
to offer since all I can muster seems weak and puny
and offset by selfishness and vanity as compared to say,
Mother Teresa, or my mother, or your mother,
or for that matter, any mother you can name.
Richard Allen Taylor is the author of four poetry collections including Letters to Karen Carpenter and Other Poems (2023) from Main Street Rag Publishing Company. His poems, articles and reviews have appeared in Aeolian Harp, Flying South, Litmosphere, Pinesong, Tar River Poetry, Rattle, and Sheila-Na-Gig Online, among others. Several of his poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. He formerly served as review editor for The Main Street Rag and founding co-editor of Kakalak. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte and currently resides in Greer, South Carolina.