Forgotten Time from Issue 6
inside death’s door
there lies waiting
an awakened sleeper
one who walks these floors
each night
searching for keys
hidden money
a worn prayer book
in her old age
she finds time
to remember god
talks to him
about her lost pride
and dignity
mumbling that life
it shouldn’t be like this
to see one’s mind
slipping into youth
and out again
the first marriage
the second baby
many deaths
glimpses of early black life
downhome in Georgia
swamps and cottonfields
riding in a wagon
driven by a white mule
come west
following the people
in the big house
collards planted
in the front yard
her legs growing thick
like tree trunks
hardly walking
silent and ashamed
she crawls into memory
