What is a step-mother to do? Years pass, the daughter
gone, living with a bunch
of male roommates, perhaps living a life
the step-mother would have wanted, if
such a life had been an option. The tales
call it disguise, as if aging is not something that happens. The once attractive
king is old himself: still rich, respected, but since
prostate cancer, hemorrhoid surgery, he carries a donut pillow
everywhere he goes. She tucks him in, left to sip one last glass
of wine in the dim light of the kitchen. The world has never been kind
to step-mothers. The daughter is all too happy
to leave his care to her. The bed she lays down in
is the one she wanted, long ago. There is an occasional email
checking in, asking after the aging king, but visits
are few and far between. The step-mother counts the medication
into the daily pill boxes, makes sure he doesn’t mix too much
alcohol with the Oxy. So she pops by, with a plant hand-picked
from the nursery: Mayapple. The woman selling them said they had a storied history,
would do well in the shaded woodland, sending up attractive glossy leaves, small
white blooms, little green fruit that ripen to yellow-orange. How could she know
the daughter would eat it? The daughter, always hungry, wanting more
than anyone could give.
C. Kubasta writes poetry, prose, and hybrid forms. Her favorite rejection (so far) noted that one editor loved her work, and the other hated it. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks: A Lovely Box, which won the 2014 Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Chapbook Prize, and &s; and two full-length collections: All Beautiful & Useless (BlazeVOX) and Of Covenants (Whitepoint Press). She is also the author of the novella Girling (Brain Mill Press) and the novel This Business of the Flesh (Apprentice House).