Mothers & Daughters

Love each other to their very souls
Argue, fight, cry, and refuse to forgive
Hate springing from love
Defiance of wills
Both want to be the woman of the house
But one must lose
For the other to win
But neither wins
Because they are a part
Of each other

They must come back
Together or it all remains broken
And it can take years
To find the glue that can mend
Those broken pieces back
Into the whole they were always
Meant to be
And those years can be
So lonely
So dark
So sad

And when you’re not looking
You see a part of her
In you
A hand flutter
A shrug of the shoulder
A sudden laugh or gasp
You hear yourself
Say something
And you sound just like
Your mother
Gasp. No, not that
I am me, not her

But later you don’t mind
Not so much
You’re okay with the fact
That you love cooking
Because she taught you
That you love flowers
Because she showed you
That you love to read
Because she bought you books

And just because you’re a grown up woman
Doesn’t mean you don’t need her arms
To hold you
To comfort you
To tell you it’ll be all right
That she was your first person
Your first emissary into the world
That she knew you before you were born
That she grew you in her garden
And when you look at her
It’s with her eyes

Mothers and daughters
Complicated, crazy and yet so easy
So basic, so simple, so real
You’re just a part of her
And now you know
That that is how it is meant to be
That when you look into your own eyes
You look into hers
When you dig into dirt
It’s her hands that help you
And finally, being just like your mother is what you want to be.

 

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom

copyright 2015

The Words

The words try too hard to say
what comes so easily to my heart
They strain to define
the what of you –
the soul, the spirit
the elan vitale

They flounder about
gape and drool
like Idiots
in a pie eating contest

And never arrive at
the finish line
Off course, eternally
dehydrated and lost
craving water

Forgetful of their mission
Distracted by the blue-ing sky
purple finger-painted sunsets
Picnics and roller coasters

They sneak away
like randy teenagers
on a summer night
Just one small word
hangs back….

Safe

Happy Birthday, Dad.

Love,
Me

Where Have I Gone?

 

Where have I gone?
I don’t see me
when I look
into the mirror…

Just some woman
who spent
too much time
in the sun
at the buffet
by the clearance racks.

The woman
I was never
going to become
greets me now
in the morning
in the evening
in the funhouse mirror
of the elevator.

She smirks and
sucks in a breath
and seraches for mints
in the bottom
of her purse.

She mutters at the
moronic actions of youth
worries about
bills, bulges and gums.

Who is she?
And
What has she done with me?

Copyright 2007

Dream on Dreamer

Dream on Dreamer
Broken dreams have I
Pasting them together
with no reason why
Scattered out before me
they shine like
broken glass
Why I keep on trying
I dare not even ask.

Why I keep on hoping
that the day will come
that what I have created
will known to some

Why I keep on looking
for days of brighter light
why I continue in this
fleeting, lonely plight

Dream on Dreamer
Illusive dreams have I
and when I reach for them
they take off for the sky

I wonder what I’m doing
and wonder what it matters
and if my broken dreams
will rend my life to shatters.

copyright 2006