Brian McMillan

SLEEPING TO POOH

I am a body pillow on my daughter’s bed.
As she rehearses in a British accent
the story of the storm cloud hanging 
from a balloon that should not be spoiled,
I cannot tell her that my reason for dozing 
through every other paragraph 
is that I have failed at a thing I think 
I wanted most in my life, a thing that has nothing 
to do with her.  I must pretend this tiredness 
is a fatherly one, a tiredness from which 
I may be revived in the morning.

__________

BRIAN MCMILLAN IS THE AUTHOR OF WINTER WALKING HOME, AND HIS POETRY AND SHORT FICTION HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN LITERARY MAGAZINES SUCH AS THE NEW ORLEANS REVIEW, TYPISHLY, AND LITRO. HE IS ALSO A FORMER LOCAL MEDIA ASSOCIATION JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR AND WINNER OF THE GWEN STEVENSON MEMORIAL AWARD FOR TOP NEWS STORY IN A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER IN FLORIDA. HE IS THE EDITOR OF THE PALM COAST OBSERVER AND ORMOND BEACH OBSERVER, IN FLORIDA, WHERE HE LIVES WITH HIS WIFE AND FIVE CHILDREN. REACH HIM AT BRMCMILLAN@GMAIL.COM.