Member-only story
Transient
first it was hand squeezing
balled up fists digging fingernail into
the palm of tiny hands
I’d pry them apart slowly singing
a song or telling a story
making no mention of the tiny wounds on
tiny hands
tic tic tic tic
if I didn’t bite my fingernails since the first
day I discovered teeth
down to the quick
near to the bone
always under control
I might not have understood
his first tic
blinking came on full
force eyes opening and closing
thousands of times in a day
unable to bring anything into focus
unwilling to stare anything
down I don’t know how then he learned to
ride a bike
tic tic tic tic
if I didn’t too struggle to look the world full
focus with an unending resolve
and a solidarity of
spirit when everything
spins and is being undone before
my eyes I might have been frustrated at
his second tic
