Harrietts I Have Known

Harriett (2rs/2ts)
you can’t even find it
on Google without the
infernal “”s

and who can say
was it Harriet
or Harriett
when it came
to the famous
Tubman?

so fabulous is she
so rare are they –
the Harrietts (2r’s/2ts)
that my own Harriett –
my mother –
is the 12th listing on
Google (don’t forget the “”)

One of only two
I have stumbled across
in 57 years on the planet,
my Harriett once went
to auction to buy a quilt
a friendship quilt
where the friends who
make it all put their
names on their squares

the auction was for Harriett (2rs/2ts)
Broadwater – a friend of my dad’s mom
I was 7 when she died
I remember because it was the first
funeral I went to
and when they read the family names
there was Harriett Broadwater
this woman I never met
with generations trailing behind
such a distance that I never forgot

She had children . . . and
grandchildren . . . and great-grandchildren . . .
and 2 or 3 great- great-grandchildren!
At 7, I learned that you could live
to be really, really old
my own Grandma just smiled
a bare 49 at the time
she was merely really old in my eyes
but not yet really, really old
(I had a lot to learn)

Mom outbid all comers
and got the quilt
she still has it, I think
because there for all
the world to see is her name
spelled right (2rs/2ts)
Bonus: my Grandma’s square
Mary Pyles
is there too

Mom holds the quilt of a woman
who shared her name
she never knew
and I never met
but knew of
because when I was 7
hers was the first funeral
for me
and I remember
and stand outside the quilt
circle and marvel at the women

the woman Broadwater
who lived well beyond
her four-score and ten
the woman Pyles
the same
both bent over the quilt frames
sewing their friendship into
hearts and lives
and the next generation Harriett
who would celebrate them both
with her own life
for my mother is the keeper
of memories

so to all the Harriets
and Harrietts (2rs/2ts)
and Drikas . . .Endikas . . . Enricas . . .
Enriquetas . . . Ettas . . . Etties . . .
Haliakas . . . Hallies . . . Hariatas . . .
Hatsys . . . Hatties . . . Heikes . . .
Heinrikes . . . Heintjes . . . Hendrikas . . .
Henkas . . . Hennas . . . Henriettas . . .
Henriettes . . . Henriikkas . . . Hettas . . .
Hetties . . . Jetjes . . . Riettes . . .
Rikas . . . Yettas . . . Yetties . . .
Harries . . . and Haris . . .
and most of all, to
Harriett (2rs/2ts) Eliza Keadle Pyles
I say
hats off, ladies