MY BED my grandma's blind stroking of the table with the damp cloth while the other hand kept track of what had and had not yet been wiped and how she kept the things she needed in the same place always so memory and touch could work without the help of eyes her son or neighbors checked the cabinets before they went to town so she never worried about that and for a long while she could see and bend well enough to keep some flowers going by the back steps when she finally had to go she had enough time to get us each to come and take any of her things we wanted for what was not passed on was given away she stood at the door while I loaded my share and asked if I was sure I had all I needed and told me to remember that that old bed had been in her mother's guest room and was also used for birthing all nine times which I thought but didn't say made her and all her brothers and sisters and now me guests