Poem by Cameron Morse
Origin of Hospice
A healthcare
facility for the terminally
ill the terminally
alive perched upon
the windowsill
straddling
the sawhorse of sunset
every house of how
now a guest house
*
SIGN UP NOW
PAY BILL AS GUEST
ESTIMATES AS GUEST
your number
of years left fingers
a daisy chain
a kind of lottery
augury
*
From French from
Latin hospitium
hospitable reception
entertainment
*
Returning as a guest
to my mother’s
house
I walk away
with armfuls of junk
mail refrigerator
magnets
fallen under the dusty
refrigerator
*
A house of shelter
or rest for
pilgrims strangers
etc.
Call me etcetera
Etcetera describes me
perfectly
The Mouth
Bathroom tantrum
with the fan on
afternoon Lili ended video
time in the car
seat distraction for the drive
home from school
His mouth is mostly now
agape a toothy
crater hurling screams
My sister and I used to
watch each other’s mouths
talking upside-down
and crash into fits of laughter
imagining it right
side up with eyes on the chin
Jonce Palmer
Jonce Palmer
Cameron Morse is Senior Reviews editor at Harbor Review, a poetry editor at Harbor Editions, and the author of six collections of poetry. His first, Fall Risk, won Glass Lyre Press’s 2018 Best Book Award. His latest is Far Other (Woodley Press, 2020). He holds and MFA from the University of Kansas City—Missouri and lives in Independence, Missouri, with his wife Lili and two children. For more information, check out his Facebook page or website.
Handles for both Facebook and Instagram is cameronmorsepoems.
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