A hui hou (until we meet again) by Wanda Morrow Clevenger

we were in route to Maui
for a family wedding
when Eunice passed

and I knew it would
happen just that way,
happy and sad
glommed onto
either side
of a infinite fine line

I hadn’t seen her
she didn’t want anyone
seeing her–her seeing
her in their eyes–
I understood this
more than anyone knows

I so wanted to see
her children again
full grown
remember their voices
when we were all
young and possible
hug their hearts
with an A hui hou
Maui breeze

there is a DVD
lent to me
in the yellow-ware
napkin holder
on the cherry server
in the dining room
titled Celebrating
the Life of Mom that
I will need to return
but haven’t yet found
the courage to watch

Wanda Morrow Clevenger is a Carlinville, IL native living in her husband’s hometown of Hettick, IL, population 200 give or take. She’s placed over 422 pieces of work in 149 print and electronic publications. She is currently attempting to sway a publisher into accepting her full-length poetry manuscript. She hasn’t seen any pigs fly by so believes she’s still got a shot.