Jonathan Berger's Poetry: Poem of the Day
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WHEELS ARE TURNING

Grandma's returning the wheelchair today.
Through the streets, she'll drag it,
alone
until she's back at the hospital
where they got it five months ago.

Grandma's returning the wheelchair today.
She says we won't need it anymore.
I say we could use it to carry the flowers, and the cards,
and the sobbing drunken condolence-callers
out of their home.

But she says that won't start until tomorrow.
And today,
While she waits for the flowers, and the cards,
And the dirt, and the ashes
And the dust

In anticipation of a future that is not quite so bright
As tarnished and dark

Today,
through the crowded streets of their city,
she's returning the wheelchair
alone.