Mala Hoffman

She/Her

You get your own back
with the rain
Family fragments
magnetize under
leaky green tent
A graveside plank
cancels out
the brother savior
of a generation
Not you
thwarted scholar
In this deluge
however
you are the star
dirt turns to mud
as incantations
are no longer heard
This devotion
becomes dowsing rage
and you are free


Photos

You prepare
while she’s still here
memory squares
parody
hair styles
now that she
has none.
Eyes bright
from hospital bed
she follows the sorting
while fading
from view.

Later
I realize
it’s bad form
to speak of ghosts
at a dying woman’s
bedside.


Yahrzeit

Candles
like memories
need tending
Wax peeled
from wicks
lets
light shine
Otherwise
a flickering
then out


About the Author

Mala Hoffman is a poet and educator who lives in Gardiner, N.Y. Her work has appeared in the Village Voice, Chronogram, Awosting Alchemy, Literary Gazette and edna, among others. Her poetry collections include Half Moon Over Midnight (Paper Kite Press), A Year of Wednesdays (Finishing Line Press), Becoming Bubbe (The Poet’s Haven), and A History of Place (Finishing Line Press). She is also the co-author, with her daughter Lucy Moran, of Dispelling the Shadow: Activities Exploring Life and Death with Young People (Routledge). Her most recent work is How to Live with Ghosts, published by Bottlecap Press in 2025.

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