stuck in between

even at this age,

she had

a mattress on the floor,

and posters

on the wall

of her teen idols, and yet

she was

fifty-four.

the walls were pink

and green.

she wasn't a girl,

or a woman,

but something

in-between.

why have closets 

or dressers when

she had

so many floors?

we used to go down

the long gravel road

to the barn

and wash

and brush her old horse,

giving him

a carrot

or cubes of sugar.

i still have bites from

the enormous

black flies.