Widow, Falling
Tell me how to live this beautiful life.
Tell me now.
Help me to make bracelets from tin cans
Christmas wrap from potatoes cut into stars and toilet paper
a gourmet meal from sautéed dice of pillowcase and
hot rollers en brochette
to change my watch to an elastic bandage
to drive safely when I am blind
to know when I collapse, how to fall
to read the eyes of strangers when they ask me for change to get home
to ask strangers for change so I can get home,
in their eyes, and mine
to know when I am home and how to act when I am there.
Help me when I collapse.
Pamela Manché Pearce
Published in “The Widows’ Handbook Poetry Anthology,” Kent State University Press 2014