Hidden Letters

From the Dementia Diaries

When we were packing up your house 
We found letters from your lover. 
It was unclear if she was your first girlfriend, 
But she was the first one our mother had met.
At the time, Mom referred to her as your friend 
And we didn’t know any differently.
In the letters, it was clear from the comments 
That you’d already broken up, but no mention of why or when.
They were written in blue ink pen in lovely handwriting on crinkly onion skin paper,
and she thanked you for the checks you sent to help her pay the rent,
To help support her writing, for your continued faith in her talent.
You lived across the country, your life hidden from view.
As we went through your messy closets and drawers
It felt invasive to read the letters and cards, 
To look at the photos of a life we didn’t really know.
But you’d left it all to us.
Maybe it was your way of letting us see all of you, 
Of letting us see the parts you had to hide.
And at your memorial service, so many women appeared, 
Poets and artists and writers and actors, or just friends
Telling us how you’d been the one to encourage them, 
That you’d been the one to lift their voices.
I wasn’t surprised.
You’d done the same for me.

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Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

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Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Nik Heftman, The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains, Washington, D.C.

Macey Spensley, The Midwest Creative, Davenport and Des Moines

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

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