Unsaid

his face droops on the right
though he doesn't know it
he hasn't looked in the mirror
for over a year

of course, when he cocks his head,
as he often does,
staring at the world from a
permanent 2 o'clock tilt

the waterfall of features
is less noticeable

the slope of his eyes and mouth,
melting like Dali's clocks
seem to disappear in some
off-center symmetry

as if this change of perspective
could erase the microscopic clot
that cut his hemispheres
right in two

and my father could no longer
right his crooked smile

---
April PAD Day 20 - what goes unsaid

Complexion

"It's a bit complex," he says.
She staring in the mirror,
analyzing her pores, tugging
at the laugh lines that make
her want to cry.

He's in the bedroom pulling on
his pants going on about
some scientific discovery he
read about yesterday, oblivious to
his own uneven complexion.




April PAD Day 22 - complex