I used to sit
under the table cross-legged
while my mother & grandmother
solved the Sunday crossword in ink
or locked up the board
playing Scrabble.

Later, I joined them
& learned the joy
of contorting words
into new forms;
addictive game
that had to have a winner,
but losing to a finer mind
was equally sweet.

When birth pains started
for my daughter,
my mother brought Scrabble
& we played until
I could no longer spell;

then, I knew
it was time to go to the hospital.

That was what she lost first.

One day, she would not play Scrabble
with me;
around the time
she shifted from reading novels
to skimming magazine articles.

Even then, I knew
I was losing her
by tiny degrees,
bit
by bit.