Mothers
by Nikki Giovanni
the last time i was home
to see my mother we kissed
exchanged pleasantries
and unpleasantries pulled a warm
comforting silence around
us and read separated books
i remember the first time
i consciously saw her
we were living in a three room
apartment on burns avenue
mommy always sat in the dark
i don't know how i knew that but she did
that night i stumbled into the kitchen
maybe because i've always been
a night person or perhaps because i had wet
the bed
she was sitting on a chair
the room was bathed in moonlight diffused through tiny window panes
she may have been smoking but maybe not
her hair was three-quarters her height
which made me a strong believer in the samson myth
and very black
i'm sure i just hung there by the door
i remember thinking: what a beautiful lady
she was very deliberately waiting
perhaps for my father to come home
from his night job or maybe for a dream
that had promised to come by
come here! she said i'll teach you
a poem:
i see the moon
the moon sees me
god bless the moon
and god bless me
i taught that to my son
who recited it for her
just to say we must
to bear the pleasures
as we have borne the pains
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I love the images in this poem:
ReplyDelete"the room was bathed in moonlight diffused through tiny window panes"
I also love the poem within a poem:
"i see the moon
the moon sees me
god bless the moon
and god bless me"
I picked this to write about because I am especially close to my mother. I feel like it is about this sort of relationship that you have with a mother, especially from the perspective of a daughter. I feel that in the poem there is admiration and comfort. Also, there is a sense of pain and struggle. I feel like she creates the image of her mother so well, what she looked to her as a little girl. It is so raw and makes me want to write about my mother. I think that is speaks to the fact that the good and the bad and the in between are within us all as humans because we are human. She writes about the beauty and the pleasure... and she writes about the pain.
Maybe I'll write a Mother poem. We all should!
Great choice Amanda! I hadn't read this one until you posted it. Its a very evocative piece. It made me think of my mother and how she used to juggle all the things she'd have to do in the day. In the evening I'd find her sitting in the kitchen by the window reading to herself... Life can make us so busy that the little moments are the best times for quality moments.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally in for writing a mother piece, I haven't written a poem in ages...I think its about time for another one :-)
Ok. It's a deal. We will write mother poems and share them. I haven't written one in a long time either Lauren... but i think we can do it :)
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, when I read this poem I thought more about my Dad than my Mom. Maybe it is because of the "good and the bad and the in between" that you talked about Amanda. I'm still not sure why. I love the way she picks a single frozen moment in her memory and absolutely paints a picture with words and brings it to life.