Day 10 of Poetry Month

The subject of many of my poems. Where I say things I should have said to here when she was still alive.

Dearest Mom

Hello Mom

It’s been eleven years since you ‘passed’ and

I still think about you each and every day.

It was Father’s Day, they called us after supper.

We’d spoken to you in the early afternoon.

You looked so peaceful, so small, in that big hospital bed.

I kept waiting for you to wake up.

I kept waiting for you to speak my name.

I have trouble sleeping now. I know you did. For years,

You looked like you paced the floors in the darkest night.

I do it now, sometimes. When I stop,

I write you letters & poems.

Then I curse your name (and his) for what you did (and didn’t do),

For what you didn’t say to me,

For staying when you could have (should have) left,

For leaving me alone

Without your counsel

Without your familiar touch

Without you.

© Catherine Woods 2017