Fill the cardboard boxes with choices.
Promise you’ll find homes for her great aunt’s linens,
her father’s oak desk, the paired wingchairs
she’s had for forty years.
Listen to her memories.
Let her change her mind, keep
the blue quilt, donate
the green one.
Don’t mention the inevitable estate sale.
Jennifer L Freed is author of When Light Shifts, a memoir-in-poems on care-giving, aging, and family relationships, inspired by the aftermath of her mother’s stroke. Her parents still inspire her. Please visit jfreed.weebly.com to learn more.
