Floating

DS Maolalaí

my mother’s spent five years
so far coaxing doreen
from bed every morning
to gravedirt. an elderly neighbour —
there’s some obligations
you don’t know you’re getting
when you buy a place
30 years earlier. she’s sick now —
she’s bad, as these things go.
but been like that before —
sometimes you get leaves
which stay on the tree
curled up until the following
spring. and the trouble — no alz —
so we can’t just abandon her.
the ribs of a boat
being pushed into water.
useless, but still
made of wood and still
floating.