one hamper
two empty laundry baskets
and all his clothes
still
on the floor

Christina Nguyen – USA

buying things
that seem to matter
books, boxes, bags, bowls –
still my tears fall,
enough to fill them all

Joy McCall – UK

i think: why buy it
at my age?
i think: why not?
someone in the family
will get it

miriam chaikin – USA

again she asks
how old was mother?
counting the years
as if they were beads
on a broken rosary

Margaret Dornaus – USA

she stares at the wall
when we come to visit,
ninety-nine year old,
as if waiting for something
else to happen in her world

Patricia Prime – New Zealand