Dad’s Cotton Handkerchief
He pulls it from his pants pocket. Curled up stiff and crunchy from spit and sputum caught in his right-handed quick withdrawal. Within a day, it is transmuted from bleached white to rusty bronze, necessitating multiple runs through the washing machine before restoration. If only his health could have been restored as easily.
deep in disquiet
the afflicted trembles—
fighting to breathe
*
Laura Daniels (she/her) is a neurodivergent writer and editor of The Fringe 999 Poetry Forum. Recently curated in Gyroscope Review, ONE ART, and Journal of New Jersey Poets, and a 2025 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Honorable Mention Award recipient. She facilitates a free monthly online writing workshop through Mary’s Place by the Sea. Her poetry collection Gentle Grasp (Kelsay Books) is available on Amazon. She resides in Mt Arlington, NJ. Follow her at lauradanielswriter.wordpress.com.
Moving poem.