Why “Trapped in Love”?

In 2010, we had a son, Keith Alton. Our daughter was 7 years old at the time and had long blond hair. She would hover over him in his bouncy seat, making it so it was just her face and his inside a wall of blond hair, and tell him, “You’re trapped in sissy love!”

Trigger warning: Keith died at two months of age. Sections I and III talk about this, the third more in depth than the first. Section III is a braided essay style and includes first person accounts of the night and aftermath of Keith’s death and the day and aftermath of my mother’s death.

Section 1: Marriage

Written in a poetry format, this section talks about mine and Brian’s relationship from beginning to 2018 (when this paper was submitted). The image is a depiction of what the computer screens looked like when we met and the verse is one that I consider to be “ours.”

Section 2: Parenting

Written in a mix of prose and poetry, this section is dedicated to my daughter, Taylor . The verse is one that I think of as “hers.”

Section 3: Loss

Written in poetry form, somewhat braided essay style only in that Keith’s portion is on the left and Mom’s portion is on the right. I wrote the haiku on the image.