She tries
to sit in sunlight, but it never stays
where she left it.

Her room feels too dim.

She leans to open the blinds,
knocks over the bowl of blue marbles.

Again and again, she reaches to gather them up.
Again and again, her hand knocks them farther away.

Jennifer L. Freed mostly writes poems. Her new book, based on the aftermath of her mother surviving a stroke, is available from Kelsay Books or at her website (jfreed.weebly.com) and includes some short poems previously published at 50-Word Stories.