Donna Ialongo

Mothers and grandmothers
One mother, one grandmother
Your mother, my grandmother
The ladies of my life.

They sit in my heart now
They live their hard deaths now
Your mother, my grandmother
The ladies of my life.

The Tiffany ladies,
The silver tea ladies,
The laughing Irish ladies
Who gave potatoes eyes.

With legs of burnt matchsticks
I watched them and loved them
I loved them and lost them
The ladies of my lfe.