The Last Night In Her Home
Her life pared,
packed into boxes
or given away.
Time, still, to refuse the move
to the apartment her children
believe can become home.
She stands at the basement stairs
the green linoleum floor
a dark glimmer below.
How easily she might lose
her grip on the railing,
assert her resistance.
Always, she has toiled
to please, to placate,
her life one long apology.
One last chance
to revolt, say no.
No more good girl,
obedient daughter, wife
mother, grandmother, friend
who always says yes.
Memory rushes helter-skelter,
a broken net of pain.
Again, she fails herself,
steps back.
About the author
Mary Rohrer-Dann is a writer and painter living in State College, PA. These poems are part of a work-in-progress, Taking the Long Way Home, which chronicles her mother’s life and long fall into dementia. Most recent publications include Vita Brevis and Literary Yard. Two earlier collections, La Scaffetta: Poems from the Foundling Drawer, and Accidents of Being, were adapted to stage by Tempest Productions, Inc. and produced in NYC; State College, PA; and Philadelphia.
Enjoy more of Mary’s poetry on Flashes: Ode to the Orange Chairs
