Poets’ Corner: Erika X 2 for Mother’s Day

06 May Poets’ Corner: Erika X 2 for Mother’s Day

In most cases, the lucky ones, mothers are the Linus blankets of our early lives. We hang on as long as we can. Early on, we can’t go to sleep without them nearby. When we think of our most cherished childhood memories, moms typically play central roles in the narrative, providing  warmth, understanding, and life lessons we metabolized then – or now in maturity. Moms may not walk around with halos surrounding their heads. But that is only because when the halos get tarnished, that would be one more thing to clean.

Erika Gordon writes poetry, works for the Telluride Film Festival in community outreach, and teaches yoga. Her first collection of poetry, “Of Eyes and Iris,” was published by Liquid Light Press in 2013. Her second work, “Phases” was published in February 2016. 

Below are two tributes to Mother’s Day… because Erika is that too, a loving mom (and at times, when necessary, a mother lion).

Eleven

Hand in hand,

our breaths freeze

into the shape of laughter

and the moon

is smiling, too,

white-toothed crescent

suspends the last light

of the setting sun.

We buy magnetic bingo

to play

at the Thai place,

where we take too many mints

and wink at each other

each time we pass

the bowl. At home,

we crunch the candies

between our teeth

in a pitch dark room

to watch the sparks fly,

a trick my father

left for us, you tape

blue paper

to your arms and flap

your bluebird wings

into my room,

I watch you fly,

and we are in the middle,

you and I,

not quite what we were,

nor what we will

become, and lingering

tonight,

so joyously,

so perfectly

in between.

AND….

Morning Haiku

Five minutes of your

snuggling, worth more than seven

hundred years of gold.