a year

by Whitnee Coy

nearly 9 months alive
outside of the womb
& you said mama
lips pursed like a turtle’s
& stood in your playpen
with sunshine radiating
behind your body.

on monday evenings
when your dad & i share a beer together,
a ritual we began between schedules,
we rock you in our favorite wooden booth
as you sip 8 ounces of formula
eyes wide looking at fellow regulars.

you can now wear a red-checked
flannel i wore when i was 7 months old,
yet still wear baby sandals, velcroed straps
made for those at 6 months of age.

5 bodies move through our home
exploding with baby toys, shaving cream slime,
empty dog food bowls, notebooks scribbled
with days of the week, dress-up costumes
of wild west outlaws, scraped-toe cowboy boots
& mud pieces tracked in from garden digs.

belly laughing, deep voiced at 4 months old,
your 3 favorite furry friends made you
have gummy open-mouth smiles,
your full face showing 2 deep dimples.

in less months than i carried you,
you’ll be 1 years old exploring a world
not ready for your early existence.

***

Whitnee Coy, from Lexington, Kentucky, now resides in South Dakota with her family and enjoys doing stick-poke tattoos with her husband. An MFA graduate from Eastern Kentucky University, she is pursuing an Ed.D in Education Policy. Whitnee is an award winning poet & children’s book author with three published poetry chapbooks (SD State Poetry Society, Finishing Line Press, & Alien Buddha Press) and one forthcoming (Finishing Line Press) in 2025. She also published in 2024 her award-winning children’s book, Elsie’s Adventures to Brainy Cove, a social-emotional learning tale. She is a professor at Oglala Lakota College, a tribal college on the Pine Ridge Reservation.