Saving

My mother saves empty
Containers. Boxes, glass spice
Jars, bottles, plastic bags.
Something could be
Put in it, one day,
One day it could be useful.
& sometimes she’s right.
The word hoard means
Hidden treasure.
My mother the dragon
With her empty jars
& cardboard boxes.

Emma Morano, who lived to 117,
Said her secret to life
Was three raw eggs a day
& no husband.
A man who lived to 111
Said his secret was rubbing
Olive oil each day on his feet.
Our 97-year-old neighbor
Saves black microwave trays.
She keeps high stacks of them
In her house in the midst of
Her enormous ranch.
Everything in her refrigerator
Is covered in green.

In Sicily, first they drained their
Dead of fluids, then stuffed
Them with bay leaves
To kill the stench & to keep
The shape. The bodies were
Dried, washed in vinegar,
Then the mummies were dressed
Up in their finest clothes & either
Hung on the wall or laid on shelves.
Thousands of them are under the city.
The youngest mummy is two years
Old. She died of the Spanish flu.
Her father couldn’t part with her
So he had her mummified.
You can still see her intact blue eyes
Which appear to open & close
Throughout the day because
Rosalia’s eyes have never
Been completely closed.
Sleep & his half brother Death.

In Japan, there is a white phone
Booth overlooking the sea &
Inside is an old black rotary phone
Not hooked up to anything.
People go there & call their dead.
There is always a line to get in.