On My Back in Bed
by Terri Brown-Davidson
Revolutions have been fought on this mattress.
The dark stains under me express
My involuntary subversion. Sometimes
A hired minion pauses mute at my bedside,
Prepared, on my plea, to haul me
Upright against a Ganges Range of pillows.
O Faceless Lackey, don’t you realize
That you diminish yourself,
Tending to a cripple for a few paltry pesos?
Grabbing my plaster shoulders, he huffs and puffs
Before he blows my pride down.
“Too heavy,” he mumbles and skitters
Quick-panting away
From the sweaty swearing Frida
Reloading her paint brush.
Terri Brown-Davidson's first book of poetry, The Carrington Monologues, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in hundreds of journals, including Triquarterly, Able Muse, Denver Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, and others.
