by Quintin Collins
“Call Me When You Get Home”
As if saying so could telegraph my future right to God’s ear,
my mama asks that I call when I get home.
Because of this benediction,
every bullet diverts. Every wayward driver obeys road lines.
Deer deny their urge to leap.
Sudden storms withhold their downpours.
Every catastrophe retires
until I set foot beyond my threshold.
In when, my mama ordains a stay of all executions,
as if God damn well will abide, as if her presumption binds
existence to her will. But I will forget—
until my epiphany when she texts to ask if I made it home.
Quintin Collins (he/him) is a writer, assistant director of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program, and a poetry editor for Salamander. He is the author of The Dandelion Speaks of Survival and Claim Tickets for Stolen People, selected by Marcus Jackson as winner of The Journal's 2020 Charles B. Wheeler Prize. Quintin's other awards and accolades include a Pushcart Prize, a BCALA Literary Award honor, a Mass Cultural Council grant, the 2019 Atlantis Award from the Poet's Billow, and Best of the Net nominations.