Donation (rough draft)

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Jo, 1964. Photo copyright PAH.

Donation

……………………………………. In large flat boxes were two hundred pants
……………………………………. two hundred and twenty one shirts, skirts, and
……………………………………. fifteen bras, twenty tired underpants,
……………………………………. and endless bags of worn and dusty shoes.

……………………………………. You did not wear all these, the tags still hung,
……………………………………. still dangled from the many seams while dog hair
……………………………………. cat hair, human hair, dust and tired mold,
……………………………………. impacted the good thoughts behind this gift.

……………………………………. You wore so many hats, so many scarves
……………………………………. to wrap around your balding head, so many
……………………………………. different sizes of nightshirts, slippers, and
……………………………………. robes tell us you shrank as cancer vanquished

……………………………………. dreams, while chemo lost its fight against the
……………………………………. errant cells. We didn’t know you but yet we did.