Secret Comforts
Digging in the drawer
behind the sweaters
for the bag of snickers bars
I suddenly remember
that my mother hid caramels
and boxes of butterbrickle
underneath her bed.
And I begin to cry,
my mouth full of chocolate,
about the two of us
decades apart
spending our lives on others,
sneaking our secret comforts
as if it were a sin.
-- Deb Cooper