I posted this poem in March 2023, and then Blue Heron Review published it this spring. I just got an email that they've nominated it for the Best of the Net Anthology! Thank you, Blue Heron. camaraderie June 1976 hunched on a hard chair in an airless room I cupped my head in my hands and wept to save his life they would saw through his breastbone his chest as small as my open hand— stop his heart rebuild the inside sew him shut a presence beside me, her hand a mere moth dusting my arm here—for you offering a fresh-lit Marlboro bearing her kiss of lipstick I accepted the gift glancing up, four others, all mothers, waited us, too, one said
deeply felt...at the moment and now. i'm thrilled you have been honoured and recognised for the brillian poet that you are.
Beautifully touching in its encapsulation of trauma felt.