by Lori (Lee) Desrosiers

It's #tbt! Enjoy this great one from SWWIM Every Day's archives!

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We scatter her ashes
in a cemetery garden near the house
protected by roses, blossoming cherry.

I open the bag inside the urn.
They look different than expected,
dry and brown with tiny bits of bone,
more sandsoft than powdery.

My daughters take their turns
and I take mine. My mother
does not blow away
but lands.

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Lori (Lee) Desrosiers’ poetry books are The Philosopher’s Daughter, Sometimes I Hear the Clock Speak, and Keeping Planes in the Air, all from Salmon Poetry. Two chapbooks, Inner Sky and Typing with e.e. cummings, are from Glass Lyre Press. Poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. They teach Poetry in the Lesley University M.F.A. graduate program. Desrosiers edits and publishes a journal of narrative poetry, Naugatuck River Review, and Wordpeace.co, a digital literary and art project dedicated to peace and social justice.