Grief

Clothing moths feast

On a cream cardigan

With hand-embroidered pink flowers

And a neck seam label that reads

“Made with love by Paula”

In a musty hall closet

That hasn’t been opened in two weeks

In a 1930s Spanish-style home

In West Hollywood.

The moths don’t know

That the sweater

Will be donated soon—

Newly tear-stained—

To the Downtown Women’s Center

Where it will be washed

For the first time

In twelve years.

Most of the moths on the cardigan

Will die, but some will escape

To the shadowy corners of the closet,

Avoiding being stuffed

Into a garbage bag,

Surviving

On dust and loose fibers, and,

In a few months, new clothes

Will hang where the sweater

Made with love by Paula,

Once hung.

The new garments, sweaters

Made with polyester and nylon—

Not wool like the old cardigan—

Will not taste as good,

Or smell the same,

But in time, the moths

Will become familiar

With the fabric landscape

Of their new world

And, once more, feel

At home.