"Cordless Connections" by Jim Krosschell

Cordless Connections

I nearly killed her, or she me
A surgeon’s scalpel saved us

A man receives a mother’s cord
A man denies his father’s cords

I can only call her once a week
The gap is far too big for more

Father obeyed our culture’s call
for dogma, discipline, and duty

I’m glad for every second that she’s lucid
I don’t know what to offer when she’s not

God coerced our family here and there
Cords of closeness withered, fell away

She almost always went along. Doubt at times arose
at night, then were banished by the morning’s bustle

Supposing to protect their innocence
I didn’t tell the children much of this

She’s wholly terrified of ghosts, I’m told
when they park her in the common room

Don’t repress your sorrows and your guilt
Make peace with loss, come back in love

Disconnecting, ceding her to rest
in the perseverance of the saints

I’m gaining strength to call across the waves
Thank God I hear my daughters calling back

Jim Krosschell

Jim Krosschell’s poems and essays have appeared in some 70 journals, and he has published two essay collections: One Man's Maine, which won a Maine Literary Award, and Owls Head Revisited. He lives in Northport, ME, and Newton, MA, and is President of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance.

Headshot: Cynthia Dockrell

Photo Credit: Staff