My mother sleeps in the glow of the TV screen,
\none hand cupped like a pistachio shell
\nover her heart. I\u2019m sitting at the dining table,<\/p>\n
coiling her measuring tape the way she likes:
\nthe only right way. A smooth vinyl slide,
\nand there is something of her perfume<\/p>\n
about it, invisible pockets of scent that burst
\nwhen pressed, like citrus peel pierced
\nby a fingernail. Beside her on the couch,<\/p>\n
my father also begins to calculate the angles
\nof sleep, mouth falling open: a soft,
\nunwritten geometry. The measuring tape<\/p>\n
falls asleep as they do, a quiet curling,
\na small white animal bathed in light.
\nThere is more here for me to measure<\/p>\n
than my own circumferences\u2014
\nmy mother\u2019s arm bisecting her body\u2014
\nthe parabola arthritis has made of her hand\u2014<\/p>\n
the angle of my father\u2019s slackened jaw\u2014
\nthe furrow between his brows, even in sleep\u2014
\nthe vast distance between us as we are now.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My mother sleeps in the glow of the TV screen, one hand cupped like a pistachio shell over her heart. I\u2019m sitting at the dining table, coiling her measuring tape the way she likes: the only right way. A smooth vinyl slide, and there is something of her perfume about it, invisible pockets of scent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2247,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[69],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-4qe","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17002"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17101,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17002\/revisions\/17101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}