Every Sunday for Two Years

I asked if he wanted coffee and a bagel
or donut along with the NY Times
if he had enough milk
needed sugar, if he had
something for dinner that night
I asked about the book he was
working on with a man whose
grammar drove him crazy
if he wanted me to pick up
something at the post office
get him a book from Barnes & Noble
or a DVD he wanted to watch

I never asked if he needed something
he couldn’t ask for

he never asked how I’d feel afterwards
not giving it to him

Linda Lerner’s A Dance Around the Cauldron, her most recent published collection, a prose work which takes place during the Salem witch trials (Lummox Press, 2017)  was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Recent publications / acceptances include, Café Review, Trailer Park Quarterly, Wilderness Literary House Review, Cape Rock, Illumination Magazine & Piker Press. Taking the F Train, is forthcoming from NYQ books.