Free Breakfast

by Terri Kirby Erickson

The Springhill Suites free breakfast area
was filling up fast when a man carrying his
disabled young son lowered him into his
chair, the same way an expert pilot’s airplane
kisses the runway when it lands. And all the
while, the man whispered into his boy’s ear,
perhaps telling him about the waffle maker
that was such a hit with the children gathered
around it, or sharing the family’s plans for the
day as they traveled to wherever they were
going. Whatever was said, the boy’s face was
alight with some anticipated happiness. And
the father, soon joined by the mother, seemed
intent on providing it. So beautiful they all
were, it was hard to concentrate on our eggs
and buttered toast, to look away when his
parents placed their hands on the little boy’s
shoulders and smiled at one another, as if
they were the luckiest people in the room.

From A Sun Inside My Chest (Press 53, 2020).
Reprinted by permission of the author.

Read this and other poems by Terri Kirby Erickson in A Sun Inside My Chest, available for purchase online.

It feels refreshing that the attentive speaker of Terri Kirby Erickson’s poem refuses to turn away from this scene of a father lowering his disabled son into a wheelchair. She describes that tender act with clarity and precision, telling us that it happened “the same way an expert pilot’s airplane/kisses the runway when it lands.” That might have been enough of a moment to hold, yet she keeps watching, and notices how the father whispers something in his son’s ear as well, “perhaps telling him about the waffle maker/that was such a hit . . .” The greatest gift of this poem is its image of the boy’s face “alight with some anticipated happiness.” Instead of turning away from this family, or focusing only on their son’s limitations, Erickson chooses to see the beauty inherent in this secret they share together, how they “smiled at one another, as if/they were the luckiest people in the room.” Reading this poem, one can’t help but feel that they were.

Invitation for Writing & Reflection: Describe a time when you witnessed someone tenderly caring for another, perhaps out in public or in your own family. See if you can capture exactly each of their actions, and what was exchanged between them.

ABOUT THE POET: Terri Kirby Erickson

Terri Kirby Erickson is the author of six collections, including A Sun Inside My Chest (Press 53). Her work has appeared in “American Life in Poetry,” Atlanta Review, Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection, How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope, The Christian Century, The SUN, The Writer’s Almanac, and many others. Her awards include the Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, Atlanta Review International Publication Prize, and a Nautilus Silver Book Award. She lives in North Carolina.

POETRY SELECTION AND COMMENTARY BY JAMES CREWS

James Crews is the author of four collections of poetry: The Book of What Stays, Telling My Father, Bluebird, and Every Waking Moment. He is also the editor of two anthologies: Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection and How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, The Sun, and have been reprinted in Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry and featured on Tracy K. Smith’s podcast, The Slowdown. James teaches at SUNY-Albany and lives with his husband in Vermont.

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