POEM #25- BYGONES

"Homesick"

In late summer
Mother and I
ride the train East
heat rises off the tracks
making them dance and bend and blur
And our coach car
is stifling
almost unbearable

even so,
when we get to the dorms
Mother unpacks my trunk
and makes me don
my new winter coat
with the high fleece collar
along with the matching Cossack's hat
and fur-lined gloves

I tell her I look ridiculous
point out the white flowers
in the stone planter
on the patio
just behind me
protest that I am suffocating

but Mother insists on a picture
I will not go home again
until June
and we both know
we are in
for a long
cold
winter

(C) Carol Wilcox, 2016