Karren LaLonde Alenier
Granddaughter Clara Spera explores Bubbie Ruth’s big closet
my mom Jane Ginsburg was never hamstrung
by her mom’s inattention no rather
she and her brother were often smothered
it’s not as if Bubbie caused collapsed lungs
Bubbie and I are short people among
our family clan our love another
gauge for our largeness the way we blather
sweet nothings to those we hold dear not stung
by formalities I shopped her closet
once I donned her cashmere coat beckoned
to her as she bent over briefs look it
fits me so well me too not a second
lost now I get cases on the docket
it’s me who questioned, protested, reckoned
Karren LaLonde Alenier is author of eight poetry collections; the latest is how we hold on from Broadstone Books, 2021. Looking for Divine Transportation (poetry) won the 2002 Towson University Prize for Literature. Gertrude Stein Invents a Jump Early On, her jazz opera with composer Bill Banfield premiered June 2005 in New York by Encompass New Opera Theatre. She is currently working on books that promote Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons. More at https://www.alenier.com/.