Estate

By Kendra Leonard

My father leaves to me Macbeth
and all concomitant Shakespeare;

fear of angry men and their power;

thin lips conveyed by genetics:
I can now recognize our kin by their mouths;

fear of the hand and the belt and the bicycle;

a lack of dancing with comfort;

but also

preposterous thrillers;
hand-drawn maps;
stories to fill a world.

My mother leaves to me a slap;
a reminder to remember her

chant of karuna, karuna;

advice turned funny anecdote
about cigarettes, drinking, and sex

too long to relate here;

violent hypocrisies
between words typed and
spoken;

Lord of the Rings;
and all concomitant Tolkien.

Their estates I shift daily, knowing or not:
I wear their rings on a restraining chain.

Kendra Preston Leonard is a poet, lyricist, and librettist whose work is inspired by history, language, and the mythopoeic. Her first chapbook, ‘Making Mythology,’ was published in 2020 by Louisiana Literature Press, and her novella in verse, ‘Protectress,’ was published in 2022 by Unsolicited Press. Follow her at @K_Leonard_PhD