POET’S CORNER: A MOTHER HONORS HER MOM & ALL MOTHERS

11 May POET’S CORNER: A MOTHER HONORS HER MOM & ALL MOTHERS

Editor’s note: Mother’s Day is a celebration honoring moms and motherhood in general, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly on a specific day in March or May. My dad used to say Mother’s Day was every day, not a Hallmark event. That did not mean flowers and chocolate on the table. Just a simple, daily nod to the way mom made it possible for all our lives to operate seamlessly. The following is our Word Woman‘s tribute to her mom and all moms  – just in case you forget to acknowledge her fully the other 364 days of year.

Word Woman Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and her mom

How I Came to be More Open to You
           for my mom

It was not
that I had a magic key.
No wrecking ball.
No crow bar.
No axe.
I suppose
it’s not even
that the walls
between us
were torn down.
It’s just that
one day
I forgot
to build them.

How We Try To Shape Things

There are no arms
on the woman in the picture,

the one my daughter
drew and handed to me,

saying, “Mommy, this is you.”
She was so proud, her eyes

so alive, and the green crayon lines
show a woman with long hair,

long legs and a big lopsided smile.
And no arms.

It is not that I mind being elbowless,
but my friend Jack once told me

that children who draw people with no arms
are disempowered, and there

are studies to prove it, he said,
how their lack of agency

lasts into adulthood.
I want to show her, “Here,

darling, here is where the arms go.”
But instead I say, “The green lines

look strong. And her smile
makes me smile.” I kiss her,

and tell her thank you,
and she squeezes me, her two small

arms so strong, I notice, even when
they let me go.