Your Halo

Your face is glowing
as you hover above us
closer to the overhead lights
a Madonna’s halo as you rub your belly
almost winking but not
eyes narrowing as you widen
with a matriarchal smile

My sisters and I are huddled around
your belly like a campfire
as you divulge your secret:
it’s a pizza baby

And now it’s our turn
eyes narrowing as we match
your closed-mouth smile: No Dad,
it’s a beer belly

It seems that even then we enjoyed
holding childlike judgment
over your sweet head

By A.C. Dobell

A.C. Dobell is a Filipina-American poet and visual artist living in Pittsburgh, PA. Her combination poetry and photography e-zine is published on Mercado Vicente. She is the co-director of Mused, an event that brings together artists of different mediums to inspire each other and connect over the creative process. She has work forthcoming in Eunoia Review. She works mainly in activism covering a broad range of environmental and social justice issues. She is related to the English poet, Sydney Thompson Dobell, a member of the Spasmodic school and friend of both Tennyson and Browning.