mama

Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom 🙂 I wrote this poem for her (it appears in my book Heartaches as well). I love her very much.

mama


stepping to the edge
i lose my footing
tumbling to my death
flashed through your mind

you threw yourself down
the flight of wet metal stairs
and were my soft place to land
despite your own wear and tear

walking through the fields
prickly, high and dry
hurt my skin

and made me cry
you picked me up
carried me on your back
across ten acres
like a Mack

teacher was poking me
in my shoulder
you ran in like a roller coaster
you called her a bitch
you set down the line
you took me out of that awful time

he wanted to hit me
but instead
you took the beatings
and were dragged
by your hair

despite your own hell
despite your own pain
you always put me first
and dried up the rain

your quiet strength
your massive heart
can never be
torn apart

mama, I love you
you were always my heart
my rock,
my defender,
nemesis of my dark

you’re lovely
you’re kind
you’re like no other
and I’m forever grateful
now and always that you
are my mother