Rebecca Cross, Divining Rod, 2020 (Artist Website)
Mixed Media
POET’S NOTE: “Simon’s Piñata” is a gigan, a 16-line form created by American poet Ruth Ellen Kocher.
The antibody trial in New York City hangs
like the birthday piñata. Let a gaggle
of kids whack hard enough till joy rains
down, and surely our son will be cured.
Another bald birthday. Who knows?
We say yes to iffy ideas, like piñatas. He
laughs playing games on straw-pale legs.
Candles out, cake dispensed, gift pile torn
and the ruffled red bird begins to swoop
at chocolate-fed children, swinging the stick.
The antibody trial in New York City hangs –
another iffy idea. We say yes to two weeks’
bitter liquid, sweaty forehead, IV hope and
morphine for the hour the antibodies hit.
The piñata breaks. The children rush in.
How slow, how sore his bones.