Gale Rothstein
Called Back
My mother was the Internet
before it was invented. Kept files
with financial tips, health news,
odd facts, address changes,
all updated by her ballpoint wiki.
She offered advice, stayed in touch,
sent cards for each milestone,
and when death intruded
called me to announce the loss
of an old classmate’s brother
blessing he was finally taken,
or former co-worker’s child
horrible shock, that poor family.
I never knew how to respond to passings
of people I’d never met, sometimes
she’d never met. Mostly murmured
sorry to hear. Wondered if
her ritual was unique to the old.
When she died I kept her address book
packed with people who knew her,
imagined them calling their children
to announce a world unmade.
Laura Grace Weldon has published two poetry collections, Blackbird (Grayson 2019) and Tending (Aldrich 2013). She was named Ohio Poet of the Year for 2019. Laura works as a book editor and lives with vast optimism on a small farm where she’d get more done if she didn’t spend so much time reading library books, cooking weird things, and singing to livestock. Connect with her at lauragraceweldon.com.
Gale Rothstein is an assemblage artist living and working in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Her art practice has always been about putting together the pieces. Assembled boxes and environments (Inter-Exteriors) emerge from a strong narrative and historical framework. Recent accomplishments include participation in 3 group shows of assemblage sculpture at the Maryland Federation of Art’s Circle Gallery Eye of the Beholder exhibitions, a one woman show called She Dreams at FX Collaborative, a New York City architectural firm, awards in the 3 dimensional category at the National Collage Society, Manhattan Arts, Artsy Shark, Fusion Art, Light Space Time, and an artist’s feature article and cover in Broad Street Literary and Art Magazine.