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2022 OHIO POETRY CONTEST WINNER

Slumber

Poetry by ​Antoinette M. Wiley

Runny-nosed and chapped-lipped,
I sat on the concrete steps of my grandmother’s
Row house waiting for a Daddy
That never came. Eighty-Six degrees, cumulus
Clouds, ice cream dripping through fingers
Like pink swirls scribbled on brown skin,
Mama walked back and forth
From the green wooden screen door
To the yellow chalked sidewalks searching
For god in human form.
That’s who you were then—a man
Whose promises planted the seeds of a woman
Scorned, and I am so tired of the memory.
Zip line twenty years, I grieve,
Afraid of sleep that gnaws
Me back to adolescence. Memory
Rushes through me, spewing from my mouth
In waves, and I am exhausted. If only you knew
How your absence made the familiar strange.
Today, I am reading you this poem
On your deathbed, while Anita Baker moans
About a love so sweet, her voice seeps through
The paper-thin walls like honey. You weep. Tired
Of this poem, you wrestle with guilt as sleep
Pulls you under.


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Antoinette M. Wiley​

Antoinette M. Wiley is a writer, editor, writing coach, and foodie based in Cleveland, Ohio. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Cleveland State University and an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles. Antoinette is currently working on a speculative short story collection that takes place in a reimagined Cleveland, Ohio.

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