Jane Butkin Wagner

as if keeping close to my skin
the garments that were next to her own
and still smelled of her
would hold her closer

but no matter how many
fittings and alterations and refittings
I was still, at fifty,
her little girl playing dress-up

until finally, I gave away her clothes
to those who had no part of their history
as I chose to hold my mother´s memory
in other places