Raising a Boy on Your Own

John Grey

Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1884, at the age of 2.

When the boy tries on your dresses,
is he imitating you? 

When he borrows your lipstick,
your mascara,
walks the floor awkwardly
in your high heels,
while swaying his hips,
tossing his hair back - 

could it be
he has no other template
to work from? 

And then when you catch him at it,
grab his shoulders,
shake the child
before crushing him to your breast – 

what will you say to him? 

If only his father was here? 

No,
you’d dress up as a man
before it ever came to that.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Orbis, Dalhousie Review and Connecticut River Review. Latest book, “Leaves On Pages” is available through Amazon.