Broken Bones
My daughter is fascinated by broken bones.
In the car: “Dad, describe your favorite injury.”
“Favorite?” I say in the rearview. She smiles.
As if the ring finger on my left hand, kicked
to a V during wrestling, the second break,
triggers nostalgia. Baxter had a rough face.
There were others: a femur, an elbow when
I was dropped by a sitter, an ankle, rolled
on carpet. We heal, younger. Bones that
occupy the landscape of pines. We never
think about their lean or fracture. A series
of self-sustaining units until they are not
as we hobble, cursing cast or crutches,
discerning things attach to things with
roots invisible when the body snags or
awakens. Still driving, I’m out of stories.
I haven’t broken a bone in years, so my
daughter prompts, “Your appendix story
is entertaining.” Apparently, any injury is
good. Every body, a degree of jury-rigged,
brings us closer to whole. The girl in back,
having evaded the break, will wear that
cast. Maybe friends write on it in modern
cursive. And those characters will lift her
on days she needs it, when she is done
joking and staring out the window now,
the ace, mulling her future self or trauma
that I hope she does not entirely avoid.
Eric Steineger
Eric Steineger, also known as Charles Steineger, teaches English at East Nashville Magnet High School. He is one part of The Nashville Poetry Party with poet and founder Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum and Karen Carr. Steineger's poems have been featured in journals such as Waxwing, The Night Heron Barks, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, and Rattle: The Poets Respond. His first full-length book of poems is slated for publication in early 2027.
Why this Knocked Taylor Out:
Well first off I can't get over that opening quatrain. I've been accepting a lot of poems about children lately and it's partially because I think that looking toward future generations for joy and humor is really important right now but also because kids are just such a great motif (sorry don't use your kids just for poetry lol). The kind of sweetness of a parent toward a child is hitting me. Is this where I announce I’m pregnant? Sure lol.
This poem is also really sonically lovely and is a great one to read outloud. Tender lovely detail work. A solidly built poem.
This also continues my series of publishing poems that were revised and resubmitted to me, which I'm always a big fan of doing. It’s why we offer feedback options and are really honest about when a poem is super close. We genuinely want to see it again!
Interview:
On Team Taylor:
I chose Team Taylor for this poem because it comes back to the body in different stanzas, and I thought she might appreciate this one,
looking at the editors' likes and dislikes.
Writing/Revision Process:
One day, while driving my daughter someplace, she asked about my favorite injury. Her exact words were "Dad, describe your favorite injury,"
which I use in the poem. From there, the poem evolved quickly. I submitted an earlier version of "Broken Bones" to Brawl (and to Taylor) that
momentarily lost focus. Taylor's positive feedback encouraged me to revisit the poem and streamline its narrative, getting out what didn't
need to be there.
Parenthood and Poethood:
My daughter knows I'm a poet and asks me questions about it, sometimes even teasing me. According to her, when I'm not spending time
with her or teaching at the high school, I'm probably writing poetry at our kitchen table (I do have other interests, y'all). Right now, I'm writing
poems that investigate nostalgia and takes on domestic life, so she does make appearances in my work.