Mother

Once I was afraid of the wraith who haunts your body -

the shadow-dweller who crawled

from the depths of your psyche to sit at the helm,

commandeering your person like a ship

 

The searching in your eyes once made my stomach turn;

you can’t remember what you ate for breakfast

but somehow the memories of my shortcomings will never be

forgotten to you - you can enumerate them with ease

as you so often do

 

You raised me on summertime television,

forgotten birthdays,

a child’s unbandaged wounds left to fester -

but I long ago learned it’s better to be ignored

than to be the recipient of your ire

 

You taught me the power of words

and showed me by example how to wield malice

like a weapon to maim.

We cut our acid words

from the same sharp tongue, you and I;

sometimes I can taste you when I spit them out.

 

#1: https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/8y29rl/what_was_waiting_in_the_waves/e27ut5v

#2: https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/8x8k5c/sunday_muse/e27thlf