A Poem - Because I Want To Post a Poem. Okay?
Everyone should go and read this poem. I like it. I'm unsure as to the nitty-gritty of posting the whole thing, so here is my favorite parts posted here.
And, of course, I dedicate this to my mom.
High School Senior
By Sharon Olds
For seventeen years, her breath in the house
at night, puff, puff, like summer
cumulus above her bed,
and her scalp smelling of apricots
--this being who had formed within me,
squatted like a bright tree-frog in the dark,
like an eohippus she had come out of history
slowly, through me, into the daylight,
I had the daily sight of her,
like food or air she was there, like a mother.
....
There are creatures whose children float away
at birth, and those who throat-feed their young
for weeks and never see them again. My daughter
is free and she is in me--no, my love
of her is in me, moving in my heart,
changing chambers, like something poured
from hand to hand, to be weighed and then reweighed.
And, of course, I dedicate this to my mom.
High School Senior
By Sharon Olds
For seventeen years, her breath in the house
at night, puff, puff, like summer
cumulus above her bed,
and her scalp smelling of apricots
--this being who had formed within me,
squatted like a bright tree-frog in the dark,
like an eohippus she had come out of history
slowly, through me, into the daylight,
I had the daily sight of her,
like food or air she was there, like a mother.
....
There are creatures whose children float away
at birth, and those who throat-feed their young
for weeks and never see them again. My daughter
is free and she is in me--no, my love
of her is in me, moving in my heart,
changing chambers, like something poured
from hand to hand, to be weighed and then reweighed.
posted by jenn at 10:13 a.m.
2 Comments:
I love the second section you posted under the link.
I'm going to send that to my mom.
It pays to reread it- on first reading, I wasn't that moved or impressed, but poetry isn't really my thing.
Then, I came back and reread it, and it made more sense, and I understood more of it, which is good. It's a different way of expressing a mother's love for her child, and the images she writes make you stop and think, which creates the feeling of love that she was trying to convey- so she succeeded!
Post a Comment
<< Home