It Was but Not Anymore

Painting by Oscar Cuadros

It Was but Not Anymore


There was only one lying on the floor
It was my mother’s glove
It was, but not anymore.

A slip of paper with her handwriting
Do I keep it? I do.
A voice mail message from her to me,
Hurried and worried.
How I wished she had said, “I love you”
at the end of that message. But she didn’t.

Diet coke without caffeine,
It was the last thing she ever asked of me
I gave her a hard time about it.
I awoke to her scream, I heard it
It was, but not anymore.

Kristen Haskell

Posted over on her site Living In The Middle
Listed as #98 over on Magpie Tales 46