Slippers #75 Claine Keily

Today she was poor
and reached out to children
to feed her
then she returned
to the coal heap
to the mortgage that took
her sleep
to a bed once covered in silk
now sheeted in oilcloth

The children have
no mundane origins
yet to speak of
know not the buckets empty
which once they had dreamed
were full enough
to feed their dreams
of a contented mare
so they place on her
thinning skin and hair
plastic tiaras
and dance happily
in slippers
far too big for them