ABOUT ALUMNAE

I wear prayers like shoes

pull em on quiet each morning
take me through the uncertain day

don’t know
what might knock me off course

sit up in bed
pull on the right
then the left
before shower before teeth
they were my mama’s gift
to walk my through this life

she wore strong ones
the kind steady your ankles
i know cause
when her man left/ her children
gone/ her eldest son without goodbye
they the only ones keep her
standing

i saw her
still standing

mama passed on
some things to me
ma smile  sense of discipline
ma subtle behind

but best she passed on
girl you go to God
and get you some good shoes
cause this life ain’t steady ground

now i don’t wear hers
you take em with you you know
but i suspect they made by the same company
pull em on each morning
first the right  then the left

best piece a dress
i got

~ Ruth Forman
Hedgebrook, June 2007