By Gerry Grubbs
PROMPT—No one noticed ...
I watch you braid your mothers hair
your hands working like hers
in the slow rhythm of the work
and I see how my thoughts of her
are braided together the way our hands were
or the way our scent was braided together
with the gardenias at night when
no thoughts were needed
now I am alone with the flowers
startlingly white in this darkness
as if they were missing her too
Gerry Grubbs lives and writes in Cincinnati Ohio. His poems appear in numerous small reviews including Haikuniverse. His book, Chrysanthemum Moon was published by Dos Madres Press in 2017.