Born on Thanksgiving

Melanie Alberts

November 25, 2021

Morning—

nine months along

my mother feels 

the pressure

for a perfect meal

Then I arrive

my sister has

to whisk the gravy

the following year

Mom hears the news

Our president died

in a Dallas parade

every birthday since

tears mix

with buttercream

Two siblings later

Mom refuses help

with washing up 

we sink awful into

the sofa—watch thru

The television window

as a Cardinal dives 

in thanksgiving—

sunflower seed feelers 

rise into a warm world

Writer and psychic artist Melanie Alberts works at the University of Texas at Austin. Her non-fiction and poetry have appeared in the Cold Moon Journal, Texas Poetry Assignment, Ransom Center Magazine, Just This, The Austin Chronicle, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, and others. Follow Melanie on Instagram @clair.circles.spirit.art.