The Heartbreak Kid

A poem for my grandson who lives far away.

it’s crazy but

the guy’s in deep

scalp visible through wispy tow-hairs

squeezable thigh dough

eyes marine pools

i would drown happily in.

he’s a squawker, a babbler, his words literal gibberish, plus

he’s incontinent!

still

i find myself reaching desperately across distance

to clutch and hoist, whisper in his pink ear-shell

i love you i love you don’t forget me

but he just doesn’t get it.

wide-eyed brow-furrow

tongue-tip, cheeks extravagantly smushable

he hasn’t a clue.

i leave him to his sweet mama, his important day

eat, poop, pee, nap.

on the plane i smell myself

part baby, part spit-up

cheesy memento

of the compact cosmos

still holding my heart

in his tight little fist.