Her Legacy by Barbara Bloom

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Her Legacy
by
Barbara Bloom

for Aunt Cleone

After the divorce,

she sent me twenty dollars

tucked into the folds

of her crinkly blue stationary

written hard on both sides.

No use crying

over spilt milk, she said,

still, what a shame. There

never had been divorce

in the family. By then,

I had a child

and could barely remember

her voice, but her certainties

were plain. No leaping

off cliffs for her.

The whir of the sewing machine,

her shelves lined with canned goods

straight from the garden,

that was more her way. Her long letters,

full of other people’s news,

never mentioned

my father’s silence,

or her own lack of children.

From a quick how are you,

she’d go right to

the surgery of a neighbor

I would never meet,

or what a nice visit

she’d just enjoyed with Elsie.

Who was Elsie? I never exactly knew.

But, after all, weren’t we all part

of the great messy human family?

It swirled around her kitchen,

where she tied a fresh apron

around her waist,

and carried on.

She would hope for the best,

she concluded before signing her name.

Use the money

for something special.

Something just for you.

From On the Water Meridian (Hummingbird Press, 2007).
This poem first appeared on The Writers Almanac.
Used here with the author's permission.

Barbara Bloom has published one full-length book of poems, On the Water Meridian, and several of her poems have been read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac. When she was in high school, her family moved to a remote homestead on the coast of British Columbia, and she credits that for the deep connection she feels with the natural world. Recently retired from teaching, she devotes her time to writing and gardening at her home in the Santa Cruz mountains, where she lives with her singer-songwriter husband and a few spoiled pets.

dianapoet:
Wonderful poem!
Posted 11/27/2010 05:09 PM

Joe Sottile:
I meant to say, "some smoked" cigarettes. And I almost added that my mother and uncle used to send me $5 every birthday, even when I was in college--enough money for pizza and beer with my best girl at Arnies in Plattsburgh, NY.
Posted 11/26/2010 11:19 AM

Joe Sottile:
Wonderful poem, Barbara Bloom! Wonderful! It certainly brings back memories. All my aunts and uncles treated family like royalty, especially around the holidays. They could eat, laugh, talk, yell, and some cigarettes--unfortunately. Many of them left this earth early, but they left behind rich memories.
Posted 11/26/2010 11:13 AM

tannerlynne:
written hard on both sides! just like my aunt Carolyn... Thanks for this poem. L T
Posted 11/26/2010 08:16 AM

dotief@comcast.net:
What a lovely poem. My grandmother was my person who send me a five dollar bill for my birthday when I was in my 30s. She never wanted me to do without--and the cobblers she would bake us when she came to visit. Thanks for letting me go back and revisit her memory today!
Posted 11/26/2010 07:37 AM

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