May Her Memory

Issue 15 | Winter 2025 | Wendy Wisner

 

It’s like having a surprise baby 
when you’re 47 
but the baby is your mother

Nights, she calls out to you—
you wake in a sweat

Her slow whimpering 
              like a hungry
	                    kitten 

She cuts
into your dreams 
mangles them into snowflakes 
with her rusty scissors

You visit her on a Thursday
her small squat body
cap of silver hair 

She hugs you how a child would
throwing her body against yours

What can you do but accept
this weight

As you’re leaving, she says
Be careful not to slip on the ice

Somewhere she is still
mother

Somewhere she is still

May she rest
May her memory be for a blessing

May her memory