She Told Me

By Billie Daddario

Dedicated to Betty Cates

She told me

She wanted to write a story about

Once during the dust bowl ,

she had brought a Hobo home for dinner,

but her mother Didn’t have enough

food to feed him, and

Turned him away.

She wrote that much of the story over and over

Until they wouldn’t let her keep a pencil.

The Alzheimer’s kept her from getting any farther.