Lift-Away

Cameron Morse

These are small satisfactions,
the clickety-clack of debris in the vacuum cleaner,
the way a room always feels warmer
after you’ve vacuumed but probably is just you

heating up from the heave
of the machine. Theo breaks the banana
into several sections, subtracting
a bite from each. His terrible twos started early and now

he makes me sit by patting the seat beside him. 
As a teen, I fell in love by degrees,
the way we measure burns. Hard to believe Annie
made me piggy-back her over puddles. 

At the time, I counted as blessed my donkeying
hands that sank into her thighs
who wanted only to preserve a new pair
of calfskin boots.

Now when my wife’s loose hairs spindle
the brush-roll of our Shark
Lift-Away, I bring her the triage scissors.
When I put the room back together, nothing feels the same.

Cameron Morse was diagnosed with a glioblastoma in 2014. With a 14.6 month life expectancy, he entered the Creative Writing Program at the University of Missouri—Kansas City and, in 2018, graduated with an M.F.A. His poems have been published in numerous magazines, including New Letters, Bridge Eight, Portland Review and South Dakota Review. His first poetry collection, Fall Risk, won Glass Lyre Press's 2018 Best Book Award. His latest is Baldy (Spartan Press, 2020). He lives with his wife Lili and two children in Blue Springs, Missouri, where he serves as poetry editor for Harbor Review. For more information, check out his Facebook page or website