Changing Gears
Ted O. Badger

As I leave work this Friday night,
my mind is still in overdrive.
Momentum from my busy day
keeps spinning new ideas and plans.
But now I face a heavy task
involving choices to be made:
my mother moves tomorrow mom
to smaller quarters nearer me.
That means decisions must be made
about possessions dear to her
that will not fit her smaller place,
so we'll sort out, pare down and cull.
         We go to work with pad and pencil:
this coat has not been worn in years,
this table won't begin to fit ...
the kids might want this china set.
I speed along to make the list
but suddenly I am aware
         my mother moves at slower pace
         and I have left her far behind.
                  She wants to talk about the friend
         who gave to her this faded scarf,
         about the family meals she served
         here on this oaken table top.
         While I am urging her to choose,
         she tells me stories of her life.
         She wants to slowly say farewell
         to all these pieces of her past.
         At last, I come to realize
                   I must shift down to lower gear
         to give her time to say good-bye
         to fragments of her yesteryears.

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Ted O. Badger edited and published the Lucidity Journal of Verse for 20 years. It's a paper and ink zine of 72 pages -- listed in Poet's Market and Dustbook's directories.

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