By Hokis
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And then
There is the day when they truly need you.
When he loses his legs
And her denial-powered anger commands
He win the war with gravity.
And then
There is the week when they truly need you.
When he cannot find himself
And the wildflower prairie fills with weeded dendrites
A field that has taken too many comrades.
And then
There is the year they truly need you.
When he is networking his own synthetic cables throughout the world-wide web
And you are the tuning fork
Affirming the self that was here before he remembered who he will be.
On these days
Before they really needed you
You needed them to need you.
{The heirloom locket hints
before it glares back at the Light of day}
You needed them to entangle their want
With their need of you-
Enabling them to stay.
You weaved the perfect nest with translucent spider silk.
A nest they w\c\ould never leave,
Like the quick, polished, petite hummingbird that you are.
But now,
They no longer care to fit.
And then
Your wings' frantic exhaustion has taken you from view.
You lose not your legs, rather your footing.
Your chained dendrites are entangled with your own weeds,
cables, and recycled spider silk.
And then
You are the only one who needs you.
Hokis is an American poet of Armenian descent. She is senior curator of Headline Poetry & Press, a regular contributor to Reclamation Magazine, and featured in numerous anthologies. Her debut collection "Unbecoming" is a poet memoir sharing her personal rise from political trauma. You can find more about her, her published work, and Unbecoming at hokis.blog.