Teaching Weekend
My mother signs her name on a
sheet of paper, pulled from the printer.
On the reverse side, the shadow of
a ChatGPT-generated holiday plan skulks
beneath her delicate loops.
I’m teaching her how to digitally sign documents
the real-estate agent has sent over.
She signs again, and again.
I tell her the first one is fine.
No, she says. I haven’t written in a while —
my lines are shaky.
She trains her phone camera on the sheet.
I need another paper. The shadows are showing.
The same weekend, my nephew, turning five,
draws a delightful yellow giraffe with a
bendy neck. He wants me to show him how
to cut it out. Tiny fingers struggle with
the scissor handles. I can’t do it.
I hold the paper at angles he can reach,
coaxing him through each turn of the giraffe’s neck.
He gets nervous at the curves of its toes.
I rip off hanging sheets that get in his way
as we cut further along.
The calf emerges and wobbles to its feet,
the wonky white border around its head
a halo.