Splitting Wedge by Corey D. Cook

-Yesterday-

We found it in the garage,

on a grease-stained shelf,

tap-tap-tapped it into place,

raised the sledgehammer

above the obstinate log –

gnarled hardwood –

and delivered seven blows.

It sank deeper and deeper

until the halves fell away.

-Last Night-

We slept back to back

until our youngest tiptoed in,

lodged himself between us.

He slept fitfully,

thrashed and shuttered,

his toenails sharp,

head hard and punishing.

He woke early and slipped out

of bed for Sesame Street

and the letter of the day,

leaving behind the “V” our bodies made,

our heels barely touching. 

Corey D. Cook's fifth collection of poems, The Weight of Shadows, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2019 and is available for purchase online. His work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in The Aurorean, Boston Literary Magazine, Freshwater, The Henniker Review, The Mountain Troubadour, and Viscaria Magazine. Corey works at a hospital in New Hampshire and lives in Vermont.