from Michael Kriesel's Chasing Saturday Night: Poems About Rural Wisconsin; previously published in Barbaric Yawp and Rosebud.
Grandma's in the nursing home
she's been there since April
Mom's been cleaning out the trailer
sorting things when she has time
since the grass keeps growing
I'm still mowing that green stamp
still hearing Grandma say check the spark plug
every time the mower doesn't start
I never say a word
I just go get the tools
and take the spark plug out
and clean it with gas and a toothbrush
then the mower starts
and I can't hear her anymore
though every lap
I see her on the porch
transparent as Saran Wrap
hunched against the summer light
watching me awhile
before she goes inside
I keep mowing
knowing the three of us
mother son and ghost
will be together until the grass
stops growing in the cold
weather after Halloween
and the trailer's empty
finally and sold
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