Thanksgiving break

we try to sleep in over break

because there's nothing left to do until December anyways

and it won't really work because dawn always opens my blinds

and their cat gets the zoomies at 6 but

when they text me sweet dreams at 8:15 my heart swells

fuller than the murmuration I saw over I-89, swooping as one

through the blue half of the sky as we crested the hill

headed for home and I thought, that's them,

and every other thing gets that remark right now because

my hours are marked by their calls and emoticons

stark on the page, two sixth graders trying to figure out

how to live through this stick season together, little

flashing notifications sending me into elation higher

than wherever cloud nine is, higher than heaven and

when they text me good morning at 7:01

we laugh because we were trying to sleep in over break.