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The poems

Made by Teresa Marrin
© 2010-2012

jacket

Another cold winter
And together we buy you a jacket
Always I am buying you jackets
Ever since the first baby bunting
How many times do I see you
Coming in the door
In that jacket
And somehow you tear a hole in it
And we keep mending it
I like the look of you, in that jacket
Solid, warm, loved

And then you die
And I cannot part with it
It smells like you
Shaving lotion, cigarettes
And something else that’s just you
I put it in your closet
And when I can’t stand the pain
I open the door, bury my nose in it
And breathe in, breathe in
It’s all I have left of you
That I can touch, hold on to

Finally, it’s time
Winter is coming
There are lots of guys without jackets
At the place where you had your best days
I bring in all these clothes
These clothes you wore
And other mothers’ sons follow me, hopefully
“Is there a jacket in there? Man, I need a jacket…”
And I know it’s time
To pass on the jacket
That someone needs, even with a hole
Patched with care, many times
I like to think about it
The new guy in that jacket
Warm and surrounded
By all the love sewn inside it ….