Three Poems

“Pecola Breadlove’s Sister” by Jeff Rivers

Sometimes in the Mornings, Instead of Writing Poems
I Rock Gently With My Son, Gently With My Son

Our pediatrician says that you will know us
by our sway. I sway all the time now, back & forth

& back & forth. Even when I’m not holding you
I sway, fatherhood cradling me from side to side

from side to side. You are our stationary sloop,
you our continuous tide, you are our rock & roll rhythm

our rock & roll rhythm. The first time I held you
bloody & raw, bloody & raw, I touched

your knee then mine, your knee then mine
to check that the bone should feel this way
it does, it does, it does.

How To Catch a Sheep

Son, listen, they’re fleet
footed and faster than you
think. Cleverer too, boy,
don’t count them until
your small fingers latch
into their rough wool, until
you stuff your nostrils
with lanolin, until you can
inhale a grown ram by his horns,
until you can sleep a full night in
trampled heather, the clear
bright dawn sharing its brief game
trailed light to trace, to follow.

after Maurice Manning’s “I told that old dog he”

I told that young boy he
could hush son I said
there now you’re just having
a shaky little dream kid
no need to start your
squeaking start your creaking
you’ll wake yourself up
crying in the afternoon
sometimes son the sun is up
in the sky sometimes son 
a nightmare is just a big breath just
a small shake sometimes son
you can close your eyes
slip a yawn sometimes son listen

about the author

Matthew Medendorp is a poet and essayist with an MFA from Northern Arizona University. He lives in Brooklyn, Michigan— a town that confuses people who don’t read through the end of a sentence. You can read more of his work in Hobart, Essay Daily, and at mattmedendorp.com

about the artist

Jeff Rivers is an African-American, self-taught visual artist, designer, and community advocate who works to empower minority groups through social impact art programs and street art. Rivers’ mission as an artist is to fill the cracks of need and education within the Southern community, and to provide a sustainable and impactful service through his visual art practice:“I believe it is my duty as an artist to give back and engage the community on an aesthetic and intellectual level that is accessible to all populations.”