6 poems

Poems About Losing a Mother

Original poems about a mother’s death, remembering her care, contradictions, voice and continuing place in daily life.

Grief for a mother often hides inside habits: a recipe measured by eye, a phrase repeated to a child, a number almost called. The relationship may have been tender, difficult or both.

These six poems make room for gratitude, unfinished conversation and the practical details that remain after a life.

tender·memorial

Her Handwriting

The recipe says a little salt,
then more if the weather is damp.

No temperature. No timer.
Only your slanted certainty
across a card stained with butter.

I make the bread badly.
The kitchen still knows your method.

quiet·reflection

The Number

Your number survives in my phone
between the dentist and the taxi firm.

I know what would happen if I called.
Still, after every piece of news,
my thumb travels to your name
before the world remembers for me.

raw·reading

What We Did Not Fix

We loved each other imperfectly:
missed calls, old verdicts,
the same quarrel wearing new clothes.

At the hospital I did not forgive everything.
You did not become simple.

I held your hand anyway.
Love was never the same as agreement.

tender·memorial

After Clearing the Cupboard

We gave away the winter coats,
kept one scarf because it smelled of rain.

At the back: six jars of peaches,
each summer sealed under glass.

We opened one in January.
The room grew briefly August,
and nobody spoke.

warm·reading

Inheritance

Not the ring. Not the plates.
I inherited your way of checking doors,
of saving string too short to use,
of saying drive carefully
when I mean I cannot bear to lose you.

My daughter rolls her eyes.
The sentence continues.

quiet·memorial

The Seat by the Window

The chair is empty
but evening still reaches it first,
laying gold across the cushion.

For years you sat there
complaining about the cold.

Tonight I close the curtain early,
as if looking after you remains a task.