poem 6/16

i wonder who collected them
the porceline figurines in the glass case
in my grandmother's house
it never seemed to match her.
she was always so matter-of-fact
and hard working
with a bent in her left forearm
and a scoliotic crook in her back
from carrying 100 lb sacks of rice
while her good-for-nothing brothers lounged,
at the people's market when
she was growing up.

when did she have the time
or inclination to collect them?
perfect and shining,
with happy expressions
(well, no one saw them, really.
i myself can't recall their exact forms and shapes.
i just remember the smiles.)

and now that she is gone,
and i can't go to her house-
i wonder if my uncle even kept them,
or sold them on amazon-
all i can remember is SHE had kept them
all those years-
and they smiled blindly to the clear walls of the case
and no one missed them
and their good will
until they were
gone.