Thursday Morning
I called my mother
to see how many rugs
she’d shaken today.
–
When you’re in your eighties
shaking rugs is a real
accomplishment.
–
None today, she said,
but she’d planted nine rows of garden
and mowed the barnyard,
all before nine o’clock
that morning.
–
And she was preparing
to clean up and iron a little
before raising the dust
with her red Buick,
heading toward town for
her weekly hairdo.
–
(2004)