When she died

When she died, Old Ugly was in full bloom.
The tree she named brimmed with small green leaves and shaded her room.

Evening

In the evening, I gathered water, glass, flowers, flame.

They brought us tea and ice water

They brought us tea and ice water, which I drank,
bananas, which I ate,
and stories of my grandmother.

From the long-term care facility on a wing of the third floor

From the long-term care facility on a wing of the third floor,
we looked out the window of a sun room.
There goes a man walking two dogs, there goes a neon green car,
there goes a woman wearing white rain boots.

"When I was young, I always wanted to have a pair of white rain boots," she said.

This morning on the radio

This morning on the radio,
Molly Johnson commenting on a song by Amos Lee:

Flower rhymes with power.

She had named the tree

"Won't it be nice when the tree is full of green leaves?"
"No! Then I won't be able to see the street."

She had named the tree outside her window Old Ugly.
I said, "I think Old Ugly is pretty".
She grimaced.

Each day the daffodils gets taller

Each day the daffodils get taller
Long green shoots get longer
It is time
It is time

The pile of clean laundry

The pile of clean laundry is growing
On the table in the corner under the window
This soft burgeoning
Waiting to be picked up, put on

Across the room

Across the room, one woman said to another, "I am so glad my first name wasn't Tracy [though her middle name was]...I haven't known many Tracy's and the ones I've met I didn't like very  much...".

This was overhead by two other women, one of whom was named Tracy. Quietly, the inadvertent eavesdroppers giggled and smiled.

She said, when I was growing

She said, "When I was growing up I always wanted to call my daughter, Olivia, and then for short, I would call her, 'Liv".

Maple, winged

Maple, winged,
takes flight

She said, "well...

She said, "well,
I fooled them.
I'm back".

Now,
please eat and drink more Grandma.

Raspberries

raspberries
picked under the moon with a headlamp
the next day
shared with friend

On Thursday

On Thursday, she had a Sunday breakfast.

The bird

The bird finds its way onto the page again.
It speaks--
and there are no bars
and it is pink.

The eve of a new year?