On discussing mothers <br />The nurse replied she wished she were half the mother her mother had been. <br />Her words became Velcro <br />Attaching to my damage. <br />What was her mother that had left her envious remorseful even at forty <br />Something <br />Some super-human <br />Awesomely kind <br />Well tempered <br />Mentally balanced <br />Sheltered but not too sheltered <br />June Cleaver <br />Cooking cleaning scripture obeying goddess <br />Garland and all <br />Making her recant teenage rants <br />Youthful exclamations of hatred <br />Rebellious acts of the sexual kind. <br />Did she wish she’d been <br />A virgin on her wedding night <br />Bore children without breaking a sweat <br />To make her mother proud? <br />I want to feel this way about you. <br />It’s not natural <br />For a daughter to despise <br />The woman who <br />Once bore the womb that gave her life. <br />I wish that I could create a machine that would take me back through you. <br />So I could know you <br />I mean really know you <br />Not just <br />Your version <br />Truth. <br />I wonder <br />What your demons are <br />That painted me <br />Pale-skinned <br />Donning pugilism <br />For sake of sanity <br />Digging my brain out <br />Through my ears <br />With a rusty spoon <br />To make room for your understanding. <br />I want to love you <br />Wrap us up <br />Just us up <br />Like a unity carving <br />And begin healing <br />Together <br />Mother and daughter <br />Amen.<br /><br />Joi Miner<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/letter-from-a-23-year-prison/
