Poem: On Her Deathbed, Bessie Beckoned My Mother Close

Once, a pocket was not attached to a woman’s clothing,
but tied around
her waist with a string or tape.

It would contain cellar keys, a paper of pins, a packet of seeds, a baby’s bib,
a hank of yarn or a Testament.

Or enough money to be buried,
so she would not burden her family.

Published in “5AM,” Spring 2006

Patty Seyburn has published four books of poems. Her most recent is “Perfecta” (What Books Press, 2014). She is an associate professor at CSU Long Beach.