Family and Where to Find It
by Lydia Buzzard
Does standing on a tree root make
me part of the tree? A missile soaring in
a flock’s V formation is no gosling
and yet they both seek heat. At supper
with my grandparents, my chair was pulled
from the sitting room. We moved the pepper
shaker for my plate. My grandmother, demented,
“It is so nice when the help stays late.” Subway
tracks away from the airport squeal echoing rejoice;
fishnet girls envelop me in gossip, my seat is
dressed like a water cooler cup, but the fabric is warm
like a lover just laid there and the back is bolted
to the sill of the window that remembers
my name.
Lydia Buzzard is a Boston-based emergency medicine doctor and writer raised in Western KY. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. You can find her on X/Threads at @lydiabuzzard/@lethallydia.
