Let’s Discuss This At The Hospital


Years later, I realize my grandmother was calling me

a whore, in her own way. At once, my mother

and I dream of my grandmother, her judgement. 

Remember, in dreams we are always just looking 

at mirrors. And an inheritance can only take you so far, 

unless it’s cold hard cash. In the hospital we passed 

my grandmother her prayer book and I stared as 

she gripped it, unblinking in that sterile room. 

Why have your family bedside if you refuse to confess 

your terror to anyone besides God? The night she passed 

none of us were in the room. A nurse confirmed her body

evacuated. Said, women rarely die with their children around.

Meredith MacLeod Davidson