Thank you, Bob and Don
who I do not know
for your holiday card
to my mother
You are the first card
in the coming wave
that I did not anticipate
because I forgot about Christmas.
You are the first strangers
to whom I’ll reply
with the news
that Ruth is ashes.
I don’t know how you knew her
but I like to think
that you were two
that she helped make whole.
My mother knew how to do that
she gathered people in
she kept them talking
she made them safe.
And I don’t know what to do
about this festive card of yours
so maybe I’ll burn it
so she can read it.
