‘December’: Mildred Alpern’s Final Poem for the Year’s Final Month

December pulls no punches
It tells it to you straight
That winter is for dormancy
A quiet, silent wait

Gone your leaves and colored blooms
Remaining are your seeds
Bound to gauzy flossy threads
Waiting for a breeze

Oh, scruffy fluffy seeded balls
Wispy dusters too
Shake your strands and lift aloft
The wind will carry you

To a new and different spot
Where nascent seeds will grow
The winter brings sweet dreams and rest
Till springtime zephyrs blow

Afterword
By Carol Tannenhauser

This is the final verse and photograph in Mildred Alpern’s Calendar Months Project, begun in January 2023. In Mildred’s words, “The Calendar Months Project arose from a simple question: What makes each month distinctive? The poems were created to merge the wonder of the people and sights of the neighborhood with the calendar months.”

These poems and pictures are just the latest in a body of work that has graced the “pages” of the Rag since its beginnings in 2011. Mildred was a talented contributor and dear friend. She died on April 11, 2023, at the age of 92, from a lung disease that had plagued her all her life, which she never mentioned. Her son, Spenser Alpern, let us know — and also that she had completed the Calendar Months Project before she died. It was Spenser who sent us May – December. (We couldn’t find August!) He also sent some words about his mother to soften the blow, excerpted here.

“Every cloud has a silver lining.” “Things turn on a dime.” When I think of her, these reminders make me smile. As bad as things might seem, they’ll get better. And, likewise, when things are going swimmingly, watch out! She was good at helping people get through difficulties. But more than that, she could take someone who was having an average day and make it great. She was so kind to all deserving people who came into her orbit. Did you just get the worst haircut of your life? She would say it made you look distinctive. Let your waistline become unsightly? She would notice the half pound you lost. Pick out the ugliest dress from the rack? She would compliment you on your color choice. Of all the things I’ve witnessed of my mother, her focus on the positive, on making those around her feel better, is the one thing I want to hold close to me and guide me for the rest of my days.

I feel her spirit lives on. I don’t know if there’s such a thing as a soul that exists independently from the body but, whether it is “real” or not, I do believe that Mildred is still here. So, be like me. If you need to talk to her or hear from her, just do it.