Mary Natalie (Swan)
Reinhart
John Reinhart
“It’s been fun,” she
said,
again.
The last words she
spoke.
The stroke came that
evening,
another a few days later.
History never
had its hold
too tightly
leaving behind
the Depression
in Iowa
living in
a fairy tale
between the blitzes
her last
child born
at 45
social outings
with her MASS group –
Middle Aged Sexy Swingers
grandmother, never
grandma,
but always there
for a game of tag
“it’s been fun,”
she said, skipping
into the next room
another passel
of friends, neighbors,
family waiting
Poet's Notes: When
I left for college I began a regular postal correspondence with my
grandmother, one of the few people in my life not connected on email. It
was a great privilege to get to know my grandmother in that way, and our
correspondence inspired me to explore her biography further. She was a gracious
and meticulous host, some characteristics of which I suspect came about through
her work as a dietician and deployment to England during WWII. I was on the
other side of the country while she gradually excarnated. My parents were
visiting one evening when she drifted into wakefulness, looked up, and said,
"It's been fun," before drifting off again. She had a stroke that
night.
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