False Hope
CW: adoption/foster trauma
My foster parents must have thought
they were permanently free of me,
as they waved goodbye with sunlight
and good cheer in their eyes,
from their freshly painted porch,
while my father carried me,
a crying six-year-old, to his car
to begin a three-month voyage
to see my grandmother.
How surprised their faces were
the night I reappeared.
My father handed them my bags
with an apology—he had to run.
They welcomed me with hugs.
When I searched my suitcase
to hand them my grandmother’s gifts,
I swung around too fast and caught
their sad sagging faces.
Alice G. Waldert is a poet and short story writer. Her work has most recently been published by Canthius Magazine, The Evening Street Review, and the Rockvale Review. She holds an MA in Canadian Studies and an MFA in writing. She is currently a visual arts student and divides her time between writing poetry and drawing people and places.
The Marbled Sigh 