Perhaps she was meant to raise other people’s children,
or her womb refused to sustain birth,
and just because society says “Mother” is meant,
perhaps it merely meant Woman
for are we all not mothering something?
A woman puts her hand to paper; figures match,
patterns made, doodles become art,
any art becomes a woman, indeed, as she coddles it,
nurses it with color and layers of paint, coaxes it
to step up to her ministering hands.
A woman paces a floor, arches aching;
little womb-shaped feet stipple a hallway
with echoes upon echoes of journeys
she has filleted and researched by map,
and pins, and dots like a mother would study freckles
on her newly sunned son.
A woman cups her palm, wraps her fingers around
a hint of a healthy plant; speaks to it, sings to it,
Hums as she transplants it and bids it grow.
A woman dreams poetry in the night, hears its cry
to be taken up and rocked, to be changed and re-swaddled;
words speaking in tongues, talking to themselves
in the cradle of creativity, begging for her to get up and attend.
Perhaps the word “Mother” is a merely a verb
since the title is synonymous with nurture and nest,
nursing and nestling of anything dear.
Perhaps she kisses whatever she can and mothers herself
because it is all she can do to fulfill that need.
Author notes
#3 Trixie http://www.womensfunnyvideos.com/funny-pictures/old-lady-smoking-cigar.jpg
Happy Mothering Day
In a list
A contest entry
- A Different Mother's Day Contest by penman.
1750 points, ended May 12, 18 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 8 of 8
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Wonderful
Very well done. Best of luck in the contest.
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ty, penman. I have always wondered how it feels to those women who wish they could be and weren't able to...this is dedicated to them.
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You're very welcome
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breathtaking !
I have never considered the idea that "mother" could be a verb ... how closed-minded of me !
I very much resonate with your suggestion that "mother" means "woman" ... and that in mothering ourselves, we may be able to appease the collective grief of the universal mother-heart, infusing it with the love that we might never found outside ...
much love
and "happy mothering day", my dear carol ...
marion
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ty, maa, the only grief I can salve is my own....so true.
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"any art becomes a woman"
Ahhh, but not just any woman becomes an art such as you do, my illustrious Sister of the pulsating pen. Brava!!! Good luck in the contest, Sweetie...& Happy Mother's Day to one who is a Mother Spirit to us all.
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You are such a dear friend...ty, Wanda.
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You're always welcome, Carol. By the way...Danni just adores this picture. 
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