we pass the potatoes...to our left, of course...put your shoes on or take your socks off...that bed isn't going to make itself...because I said so, that's why

Mother said so, and who were we
to question her corseted beliefs

all we needed to be, was quiet
and wait for the day
for a crack in the door, to show
and then...gone

she passed away alone
they found her, comfortably dead
in an assisted living chair
doing needlepoint for a grandchild
that didn't know her name
and would never speak of her

she would be a good and quiet child
exactly as she was told to be
by her Mother
who was in the living room
doing her needlepoint
quietly
.
.