Timothy Tarkelly

ON MOTHERS AND MARITIME NAVIGATION

for Emma

You’ve reached the third grade
and here’s your mother
who fed you to health,
saying “listen,
you may not like your teacher,
but if you learn your times tables,
for now, you will succeed.
You will own the shore,
shine as a beacon so bright
the other kids will mistake you for the sun.”

And a few years down the road,
she emerges, reminds you
hard work is the key
to keeping your head above water.

Eventually, she will sound
as a stern, salted voice,
the dirge of experience
over the rough-worn waves of adulthood,
guiding your best attempts at sea,
begging for grandchildren.

But once, all you had to do
was live. You were born
and the woman who ached
as life leapt from her own heartbeat
held an armful of god’s best promise
swaddled in fleece
and showered with kisses.

That was you. That was a room
of adoring relatives
saying “it doesn’t get better than this.
Just breathe. Close your eyes,
rest and know
the future can hide nothing from you,
you are the future.”

Timothy Tarkelly's work has appeared in Flyover Country, The Jupiter Review, The Daily Drunk, and others. He has published several books of poetry including Gently in Manner, Strongly in Deed: Poems on Eisenhower (Spartan Press), Luckhound (Spartan Press) and On Slip Rigs and Spiritual Growth (OAC Books). He recently collaborated with Ukrainian visual artist Elena Samarsky on the book All Other Forms of Expression (OAC Books.) His newest chapbook, Ordering Dumplings With Bitcoin, was released by Alien Buddha Press in May 2022. When he's not writing, he teaches in Southeast Kansas.