Parental Love
My mother has two
monikers for her firstborn.
Some days, she will call out:
“Oh, my dots?” My Daughts.
Most days, it’s “my somping!”
My something.
Please don’t ask where
these names came.
We fall, or should I say I fall
into laughter every time
I hear the second one.
My father is the same,
except the names repeat
the same word: twink.
The first is Twink. Shine.
Twinkle. Shine bright.
Twinklepants.
This last one
I’ve taken to mean
she shines bright enough
to take the blues out
of her worn jeans.
Or, she makes him smile
without second thought.
Regardless the hilarity,
no one would think
to look for a star
wearing pants,
happening to be the daughts
of somping parents,
burning the night sky
alive.
Bio: Julia Putzke lives in Georgia. Her work has previously appeared in The Refection and The Larcenist.
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