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giving up Ruthie

when grandmother died
her clothes for burial
were laid out in a bottom drawer
with arms folded neatly
ready for prayer with thick brown beads
to count her Hail Mary's,
dark red lipstick and cheek rouge with an
oval mirror to check her face
and Charlie perfume that Uncle Billy
bought for her birthdays
since he was a kid -
clustered around one another
waiting for the day.

and when it came -
she looked just like herself


we buried her best friend the other day.
Ruthie resigned her last 3 weeks
from a decade of cancer.
lost her hair and eyelashes
and some of her nails.
and the color of her face, an opaque
at best.

Ruthie lay in her casket
to the side of a table with a red-flowered wreath
that held a picture of her kayaking
for the first time at seventy.
there were no children to speak of
to check her make-up or starch her clothes
or perfumes from birthdays as the years had passed,

just a plain blue suit
and thick brown wig
sculpted like some other woman's head of hair
as though there were no real truth
to her passing at all.












A contest entry

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Comments

1 - 9 of 9

  • CaliOkie silver member
    November 10

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    People live on as long as we remember them . . . for to us they are not gone. We can see them and hear them and remember how they smelled. We do not live in our bodies, but in the hearts and minds of those who love us.

    Excellent write. What deep and moving work this is.

    Garrison


  • DolceVito gold member
    May 27

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    Outstanding poetry, Kim...Sadly, the more often heard comment at funeral parlors is about the departed looks. When my brother died after a long bout with stomach cancer, I heard several times: "Oh my God, he doesn't even look like Nick." Very fine, truthful write, moving and beautifully written.


  • Peteskid gold member
    May 23

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    some lives are even more remarkable in a retelling, people who defy age and illness to take all from life that they seem to wish, somehow it seems like the right way to live, live til the end... excellent work here...PK


  • Cat
    May 23
    Edit | Reply
    wow... that ending..
    what a great concept ending..
    i'll be back to leave a longer comment


    • truembrace
      May 23
      Edit | Reply
      was kind of surreal with the services.. the wig sort just was NOT her at all. really really an odd thing...

      thanks for the visit


  • michael thomas gold member
    May 23
    Edit | Reply
    beautiful writing.


    • truembrace
      May 23
      Edit | Reply
      made an edit or so with your comment in mind... hope it worked.

      thanks again for coming by.

      Kim


  • quietly burning
    May 23
    Edit | Reply
    awesome piece, and interesting contrast tween the two.

1 - 9 of 9