MOTHER
THE MOTHER & CHILD REUNION
IS ONLY A MOTION AWAY
Yesterday a picture sent from a pre-menstrual niece:
It’s a godless world said she And I don’t know why
I can’t stop weeping Post menses she is sweet +upbeat
Can even recite The Epic of Gilgamesh at will Did her
dissertation on it
The picture: from the land of innocence 40 yrs. since family
sliced+diced Faces un-scarred Bodies un-scalpeled Dew
on the grass (Yes! they even had dew in the 70’s..) Alas
youngest child in the picture dead Too many night sea
journeys Other 2 now mothers of 4 children Oldest woman
also dead Lungs infected by filthy pigeon Jackson Square
New Orleans
Niece wondered if we will meet again Plaintive howl via e-mail
Can there be a better place old frizzled auntie? Not only is there
a better place but what we once have been we shall be again
When skin+bones are highly theoretical +we swim with the fishes
(not a mobster reference)
I answered: Love is immortality Sounding like a cross between Jesus
and CSNY No such positivity had left these lips since 1976 when I
had no knowledge of death It too was theoretical Just kiss a rock-like
brow in your parent’s condominium +that horse has left the barn But
I will leave you hopeful as too many of you grow sickly + are a strange
shade of yellow from following this blog too closely
Little Tameeka came for therapy Kidnapped in Africa by her father
Fierce little warrior girl Escaped genital mutilation too Dogs at Pearson
International sniffed her Separated form her father +sent to fostercare
At first she suckled therapist’s knuckles Then gradually developed a smile
too big for her tiny face +a laugh that echoed through the ethers to the
room of her mother in Ethiopia
__
Fall 2017
