José Sotolongo
Prognosis
My mom was ill some time ago, and then
grew worse, became extreme, was close to death.
And we watched her systems fail, her big heart
that grew so very weak, her kidneys stopped
the cleansing trick, the liver, lungs went out
as well. She’ll not survive these many ills,
a few who watched her were convinced, too much.
She’ll not regain all she that she was, her touch.
But some old women are so tough, like this,
this country of rough men and women folk
who know that people can connect and hang,
as Franklin said, together or alone.
She did recover, I am glad to say,
though scars remain, as in our psyches stay.
José Sotolongo is the author of the novel Scent of the Chrysalis (Adelaide Books, 2019). His poetry has appeared in Peacock Journal and the anthology Love Like Salt (Like This Press, 2018), edited by Amy Burne. He lives in the Catskills with his husband.
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