Mother's Day

MOTHER'S DAY
May 2005

I was alive nearly 30 years
before I was born.
I was carried as if
I already had arms
and legs and a brain
and a lifetime of rebellion
in a young woman's heart
that was warmer than a womb
where I could not be seen nor heard
and she curled my hair
in her mind
and dressed me in perfume
and decorated me in
bracelets and necklaces
where I could not protest
as she slept
and now that she's dead
I carry her as if she
still had arms and legs
and a brain
in my own heart
that is warmer than a coffin
where she cannot be seen
nor heard
and she curls my hair in my mind
the way she used to
where I no longer protest
in my sleep.