Stamps

by Paula M. Rodriguez

She sat in her house robe
scissors in hand.
Uncle Manuel had migrated
to Cuba years ago.
His letters used to come
at predictable intervals
in paper almost transparent,
lined in blue and red lines.
One day, the letters
stopped coming.
He was ninety-nine
years old.

Today, I received
a letter from India
with large sepia stamps
and the images of
Shakespeare
and Whitman.
And I thought of her
and the rainy evenings
and her stale perfume
on woolen clothes.

I wish I could tell her
that I found Uncle Manuel’s
grandchildren,
just like her ashes,
scattered to the winds.
The garnet of our blood
written in the Milky Way
to show us
the trail
back home.

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Paula M. Rodriguez is an educator in greater Los Angeles. Her first poem in the United States appeared in The Blind Man's Rainbow in 2006. Since then, her poems have been featured in multiple anthologies and journals, including Scintilla, Bacopa Review, New Note Poetry, Mercury Retrograde, and Humble Pie to name a few. Her first book of poems, The Joy of Seasons. A Treasure of Haiku, appeared last November and has received great reviews.