Small Portrait Of My Mother

Mom didn’t
just make flour sack
underwear for us,

she used
to wash clothes
outside,

and hang them
on the clothesline.
She pulled

buckets of water
out of the
well

to wash those clothes
and to wash
the dishes.

But she had a creative side.
I remember she made flower
arrangements out of plain paper.

I remember her knitting
high heel shoes
as ornaments.

And I’m sure
she knit this poem
for me.