GRAFTING


 
 
 
for myself
 
Some ewes will reject
a lamb, often one of twins,
as if to say, this is all I can do
but farmers force the reject
back on the teat, time and again,
until she relents and if she won’t
then a dog is let loose
and the barn door is closed
and in the cold, dark stall
the mother must decide
what life is worth.
 


Lisa Mecham writes a little bit of everything. Her work has appeared in Roxane Gay's anthology "Not That Bad," Catapult and The Shallow Ends, among other publications. A Midwesterner at heart, Lisa lives in Los Angeles where she is finishing a book about mental illness in the suburbs.