come on down to the Mermaid Cafe

				the mother’s silence



the mother walks from room to room
	a ghost in her own home
the father works remotely
	the child camps online


	the mother is back in the 50’s
	preparing meals and 
				speaking when spoken to

(in her silence) 
	they speak to others
	she 
	       calls out
	reaching through 
	       her telephone
	reaching through air
	       to
	            find
		       a
		          voice
		       of 
		her
	        own

to find her voice
 again
before it is lost forever

who is the mother forced into silence
	she birthed a son 
		epidural in place
			grunting and focused
		she chose the lack of screaming
	with medication shunted into her spine
			to quell the screaming pain

but now 
	the child’s voice drones
	& the father adds a hum and a whistle to 
		burrow 
		into
		her
		silence

	mocking her with with her own desire
		   her 1st amendment rights 
			(they don’t hold so very strong in a familial setting)

it is for her family she is silent
	in a nod to nostalgia tv and wifely knowledge
	& this is the reality of a pandemic

here the male voice has a home