Caleb Johnson

Shrove Tuesday

​

Our son finds me

drinking breakfast

on a porch, waiting

for the brass band

who’ll lead us all

to the last parade.

He is naked

as the day we met,

whispers “Papa

the big kids say

I can’t jump.”

I guide one foot

then the other

through openings,

fit the elastic band

snug at his waist,

and wonder

who taught them shame, was it

us, glittered like

clowns, and why

do I no longer feel

festive, watching

our son run off,

elated for his chance

to defy gravity.

​​​​​​BIO

​

Caleb Johnson is the author of the novel Treeborne (Picador), which was named an honorable mention for the Southern Book Prize and longlisted for The Crook's Corner Book Prize. His poetry has been published in Appalachian Journal, Birmingham Poetry Review, and Salvation South. His nonfiction appears widely in magazines and newspapers, including Southern Living and The Wall Street Journal, and has been cited in Best American Essays. As an undergraduate, he studied journalism at the University of Alabama and later earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Wyoming. He has received fellowships from The Jentel Foundation, the Longleaf Writers Conference, and the Sewanee Writers' Conference. Currently, he teaches creative writing at Appalachian State University