Grace, When It Is a Bit Bad for You

Based on Year 1 spelling list vocabulary

Mum, Dad,
I see the way you try to be kind,

how you find it in your hands, your bones,
make it with your lips.
You dot it here and there
on a bump, a task, a gift, my name.

At my age
in your kid days
it was not as fun, not as wide
as the days you make for us.

If I can find how, I will get you to go 
on a date, or a nap,
so you can not get your feet on cars 
and dolls and cake and the cold fork
I let fall on the rug.
The one our best lamp was on
up to the day I bit it. 

I see how you let go of your phone
for a game or a book or a hug with me.

I see your cold name for the man at your job,
how you go there like you have to get into a box 
with a bee.
The bad man is mad at you
but he is not here at home.

I see you 
when there is a pan and a beep and a 
dog and a pen and a call and a mop
and it is a bit bad for you.

When we bump, rub, fray 
and there is a wall 
like a jam jar we have to pop,
we find a way.

One day when I can,
I will get a pen and a page and say
I am your fan.

You do well.
We are okay.

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Lee Fraser lives in Ōtautahi. Her full-time occupations have included field linguist and parent. She’s been published in Cordite, Micro Madness, Mote, ONE ART, Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook, Sunday Mornings at the River, and elsewhere. Some work is at leefraserpoetry.com.