Beyond the chit-chat, sit-back, relax talk Mom initiates,
I fumble in thought and
forget to speak when spoken to—
They don’t seem to mind, though they may be
polite in their inability to open me.
The pace-cold sweat from pit of arm
reminds the mind the world is before,
not just inside and I smile to match theirs
without knowing why except to feel as they do,
to be as unafraid of exposure as they appear
to trail word from thought so casually.