1.

She always prided herself in saying,
“I raised all my kids to be individuals.”

That “we don’t argue race,
religion or politics in this family.”

Which is all we argued about, that
simply is what shut us down when

things got too heated
in di vid u al i ty.

2.

She permeates every pore of my being
Things I love, things I don’t

3.

I’m walking up one of my favourite streets
the row of “cottages” along St. Nicholas
between Irwin and St. Mary’s always marvelled
how such quaintness could exist but a block
off Yonge. My mask breathing becomes
laborious and I pause, lower it so my nostrils
have direct air, only to remember
when my mother had to do the same once,
pause, when only a few more blocks remained
before we arrived at the cinema. “It’s only a
few more blocks,” I point to the building, she
looks up, “Give me a minute, I can do it.”
Forefinger over her lips her way of quieting
the world.

I look up, wonder if I’ll make it.

KIRBY’s work includes POETRY IS QUEER (Palimpsest Press, 2021) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE CALLED? (Anstruther Press, 2020) THIS IS WHERE I GET OFF (Permanent Sleep Press, 2019) SHE’S HAVING A DORIS DAY (KFB, 2017) and editor NOT YOUR BEST No. 2, (KFB 2021). They are the publisher, purveyor of fine poetry at knife | fork | book poetryisqueer.com

Image by Andrey Konstantinov @konstandy