BABUSHKA TOLD MY MOM TO CALL THE PRIEST

By: Kira Stevens

and invite him over. She was ready

to receive her last holy communion.

Later it was 5 PM and she woke

from her nap insisting she needed

to get herself ready—and then after,

she fell back asleep with her church

clothes still on and make-up done.

I think she wanted to make sure

she looks her best when she dies.

Today the priest came and she was

so anxious. Through her barely opened

mouth she kept murmuring

I’m not presentable, I’m not presentable—so the priest

would have to come back another

time. Is it bad that I’m happy

she sent him away because this means

she believes she will still be alive

tomorrow or the next day? I’m holding

this little bite of hope under my tongue.

I know it will cut my gums eventually

when reality reaches it, but for now

I’m savoring the liminal space like a binky—

in my unspoken words there is a horrid

necessary truth I’m pretending not to feel.

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Kira Stevens is a poet and visual artist from Delaware. She has an MFA in creative writing from The New School and a BS in psychology from the University of Maryland. Her chapbook, “Highly Noted and Other Poems” was published by Lillet Press in January 2022. Her work has appeared in Open Minds Quarterly, Fauxmoir, Glassworks Magazine, Delaware Bards Poetry Review, Fleas On The Dog, Prometheus Dreaming, and others. She is on Instagram @words4food and Twitter @kirawritespoems.