Rhonda Poynter
THE LADY SITTING NEXT TO ME AT THE MEMORY CLINIC ASKS ME WHETHER
I MIGHT BE ABLE TO TELL HER WHY SHE IS HERE, IN THE FIRST PLACE
I want to be helpful:
I want to drop my reputation as
Impatient, because, God knows,
We're all in this, together.
I want to answer as carefully as I
Check the house every
Night, now – she's a stove that I'll make
Certain is cool to the touch.
I want to be helpful:
Probably the same reason I'm here –
And then she nods and smiles,
And goes back to her sewing –
Bonnet ties trail her arms:
Lace is easy, for now, but
Outside the window rain tap tap taps
Hurry, hurry.
Rhonda C. Poynter is a professional freelance writer, with publications in over 700 magazines, journals and anthologies. Some of these credits include Wascana Review, Frontiers, Blue Bear Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, Rio, Freshwater, Minnetonka Review, Dark Matter, and others. She was last nominated for the Pushcart in 2010. She has also had a book of poetry published (Start The Car, Warthog Press, 1998) and is presently completing both a second collection as well as a memoir of her father and mother. She is widowed and lives in California with her beautiful 24 year old son, Gannon Blue, and because of medical issues, they get to see, if not be at the Pacific Ocean, every day.