Poem 1

 

The Last One

 

When she was a young mother with a toddler

and an infant, she said that she would make 

note of the last washer load of dirty 

diapers she washed. As the children grew, she

realized that she could pass that magic 

day without noticing it. So she made 

a mark on the calendar each time she 

washed diapers. The years rushed by and she made

marks on her calendars signifying 

the last of milestones like school years and summer

camps and then the days she surrendered her

hopes and dreams to the reality of 

aging. Her children flipped through the stack of

calendars in the box in the closet 

the day they finished cleaning out her house,

the day after the day they put her in the home.