James Kangas

The Fly

November, at her house, 3 a.m.,
on the brown runner

under the night light,
one fall fly on its last legs

staggered feebly
toward the dim bulb,

my mother flat in long term
after her second stroke,

not speaking, not swallowing,
not home to kill the damned

thing I stared at stupidly,
and was loath to swat.

Published in Free Lunch, Autumn, 2007

 

Jim Kangas is a retired librarian and musician living in Flint, Michigan. His work has appeared in Atlanta Review, Decadent Review, New York Quarterly, Penn Review, Unbroken, et al. His chapbook, Breath of Eden (Sibling Rivalry Press), was published in 2019.