people i never heard of

my mother would call

on a Sunday

morning to talk, to gossip, to

shoot the breeze

about the weather

and do

a slight of hand interrogative

dig into

my own life,

at times, she'd

start rambling on about people

i didn't know, or ever would

know, from friends to distant

relatives, throwing in names

i never heard of.

third cousins twice removed

on her mother's side.

you know, Bill, don't you,

she'd say, he worked at the Walmart,

but used to be the foreman

at the lumber yard.

no, i'd tell her. but she'd go

on anyway. well, he died.

something about his liver, 

and drinking. i ran into his wife

Elma the other day

at the Dollar General.

the list was long of people i never

heard of.  rarely was i able

to connect the dots

of who was who. 

finally i sat down with her 

and made a flow chart

of everyone she knew,

or was related to,

living or dead.

i laminated the five pages

and put them into a three ring

binder, and kept it by the phone, 

so when she asked, 

you remember  Betty, don't you?

the woman with a goiter on

her neck,

i slide my finger down the list,

alphabetized and say, of

course, i do, she was your sister's 

daughter's, Sandra,  bridesmaid 

who lives

in Baltimore. yes, yes.

i remember her well.

go on.

well, listen to this, she'd say.