Speeding Good-Bye

    by Alarie Tennille

New to death.   Young

and dumb with grief,  we

welcomed my aunt’s orders.

Gladly let another mind rule

our hands as we purged

Mama’s closets and dressers.

When Daddy came home

from the hospital, he’d be

too weak for such work.

He’d never be up to it.  So we

packed her tiny shoes and bright

dresses for Goodwill,

kept just a few pieces of jewelry.

We left him no nightgown

to cradle, no familiar cologne,

no hint she might only

have gone to work for the day.

A cruel kindness.

© 2010 Alarie Tennille

Previously published in River Poets Journal 2010

Alarie Tennille is a Pushcart Prize nominee and serves on the Board of Directors of The Writers Place in Kansas City, Missouri.  Her chapbook, Spiraling into Control, was published in 2010 by The Lives You Touch Publications.  Alarie’s poems have appeared in numerous journals including Margie, Poetry East, ByLine Magazine, The Little Balkans Review, Coal City Review, and The Mid-America Poetry Review.