Single Mother vs. Boy From a Broken Home

Boy we battle.
You want me
At arm’s length
And then so close
I cannot breath
Easy; sweet boy
With eyes like mine
I inhale your clean scalp
When your back is turned
And sleep in your room
When you’re away.
Too much loss, broken
Bones and homework
This year. My god,
You’re only six.
I want you
To laugh in your sleep
Like you did
Before the ground shifted
Underneath us. I want
The toxic words
That fly thick
Through the honey
Of our first years
In this house
To mean nothing
In light of the love;
In the face
Of the love
That dipped down
And fluttered our hair
Late this afternoon
Over the plastic chess set
On our new front steps.