Papier-mâché

i.m. Jeanette ‘Jan’ Jane | 1950-2017

At some point, you must’ve given birth to them:

inflated balloons the way you once did me.

You must have taken strips of torn newspaper,

marinated them in the water and glue.

You must’ve helped me mummify tightened skin;

sculpt the death masks we would colour back to life.

And we must have waited for the hardening,

readied paint for our expressionless faces.

We must’ve done all this, I remember it –

I just forget why we made so little else.