My Father's Aphasia

My Father's Aphasia

Ann Iverson

Diphthong loved power
your absence of voice
bled my heart to death.

Right side ventricle
closing slide of eye.
Your gardens waited
for a new beginning.

Purple tango hand veins
I chose to be your voice.
My name was yours,
entwined.

We stalled together
for time, each letter a disciple
every word a Christ.
A B C D E F G

The alphabet was forever
while we waited and we waited
come back all the way I said

your gardens
are waiting
for a new beginning.

---

Ann Iverson
Writer & Artist

Ann is the author of five poetry collections: Come Now to the Window by the Laurel Poetry Collective, Definite Space and Art Lessons by Holy Cow! Press; Mouth of Summer and No Feeling is Final by Kelsay Books. She is a graduate of both the MALS and the MFA programs at Hamline University. Her poems have appeared in a wide variety of journals and venues including six features on Writer’s Almanac. She is currently working on her sixth collection of poetry, a book of children's verse, and a collection of personal essays.

Photography by Hans Isaacson