Testing the Seams

by Ona Gritz

I think of the Hulk, that bulging creature
outlined on my son's green T-shirt.
It barely fits him anymore,
now that his father's body asserts itself in him,
widening the plain between his shoulder blades,
fleshing out his thighs. What pulkas,
my mother would say were she here to pinch them.
His legs are suddenly log-solid.
Their stance, a man to be reckoned with.
Understand, there was a man I learned
I couldn't live with, who couldn't live with me.
Yet here he is, testing the seams of my son's clothing,
refusing to keep to the confines of my past.

Ona Gritz is the author of two children's books, Starfish Summer (HarperCollins, 1998) and Tangerines and Tea (Harry N. Abrams, forthcoming 2005). Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in many publications, including Moment, Poetry East, Heresies, and online in Literary Mama ,The Plum Ruby Review, Poetica and Ekphrasis, where she was a finalist for the 2004 Ekphrasis prize. Ona lives in Hoboken, New Jersey, with her son, Ethan.