It was on her 80th birthday
That I offered and she accepted
A Cuban. Her first. Her last.
It was Mother’s Day
And I had come to plant flowers
To her liking. Iris, pansy, roses.
It was an attempt on each side
To mend our broken bonds
With earth, fire and air.
The water came later,
With a tumbler of whiskey for me,
And a tea bag she used a 2nd time.
It would be nearly a decade,
At her funeral, that I found out
What she would not say –
That she buried my daughter’s ashes
In secret at my niece’s grave,
That they might rest together.
That Mother’s Day white smoke
Swirled about her head like a halo
While she asked me if I still believed
In Heaven or Hell, all things
Catholic or anything for that matter,
And knocking ash off my rolled leaf
I confessed it was too late
For such things. The old Gods
Had departed. None took their place.
Loren Niemi is a Minnesota based poet, author and innovative storyteller whose work includes a 2020 Midwest Book Award winning short story collection, “What Haunts Us”, a poetic memoir “A Breviary for the Lost” and “Circus Rex” a novel of romance, catastrophe and offbeat humor. Over the last 47 years Loren has shared stories and poems in urban and rural communities, on storytelling festival and cabaret stages, in over 200 poetry or story slams, and at 35 Fringe Festivals in 6 cities since 1995.
He taught Storytelling in the Communications and Theater programs at Metro State University for 26 years and Storytelling in Business and Organizational life for the University of St. Thomas for 5 years. He was awarded the National Storytelling Network’s lifetime achievement award in 2016 and founded the American School of Storytelling in 2020 to provide online and in person classes and workshops.
More: www.LorenNiemistories.com and www.AmericanSchoolofStorytelling.com
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