A memory from a long time ago...

Ok, really, it seems as though the book I discussed in my previous post is actually going to provide me with a lot of food for blog in the next few days. But here goes another one. This one is special because it reminds me of my maternal grandmother, in the days when she had huge pins that she would stick into her hair to hold them together. Or was it the other way round? This one's called Diaspora. Read on...

After so long
to stand at your dresser
hairpins
in the dusty cup

Unfamiliar
bright black
new

In place of the ones
that loosened themselves
and slid away like days
to lie wherever you lost them
stray time
in their teeth
I wish I could find them
pry open
those long wiry jaws
retrieve your fragile face
from their greedy grip

But you
are new
collected
in the cup

Mother
so many pins
and every day your smooth hair
holding them all together

-By S.V. Atalla (origin not mentioned, lives currently in CA)