“We Do This, We Do That” by Shawn Pittard

“We Do This, We Do That” by Shawn Pittard, published in Witness, released in December 2024, has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Please enjoy the poem, and feel free to leave a comment.

We Do This, We Do That

~inspired by Frank O’Hara

It took a while but we’re comfortable now
with my helping her with her shower.

We’re past the self-conscious joking.
We focus on the pleasures

of hot water, shampoo, and a bath sponge.
We take the time to scramble eggs

with parmesan, salt, and pepper.
Spend the rest of the morning cleaning up the kitchen.

Some days we go out to the wildlife area
with our binoculars and a couple of drive-through sodas

listening to rock-and-roll—
Mark Knopfler is a favorite but Elvis is the King.

During late afternoons, we tally up
the living and the dead:

a younger brother living and retired to the Philippines,
two of her big sister’s three sons still alive;

among the dead her parents,
her husband of 62 years.

She says,
I’m your mother?

Yes, I’m your son.
But you’re so old.

from Witness by Shawn Pittard (The Poetry Box, 2024)
nominated for The Pushcart Prize by Shawn Aveningo Sanders, editor/publisher