Cottage cheese & barbed wire
For 90 years every year she called me
an idiot.
an idiot.
They call her my mother.
We all came to the family reunion house
to celebrate her birthday.
The 90th one in a row. I shouldn't have
been there but I promised myself
I was gonna give as good as I
don't get. to celebrate her birthday.
The 90th one in a row. I shouldn't have
been there but I promised myself
I was gonna give as good as I
At the party they saw a nice old
round perfumy woman.
round perfumy woman.
I saw something staring and hating.
Not even a person anymore, maybe a non-person.
A mound of old cottage cheese slid out of
it's crusted brown plastic past it's expiration
date but sitting there
it's crusted brown plastic past it's expiration
date but sitting there
staring
with eyes glowing dull, mean
like electrified barbed wire but
of a very low current.
like electrified barbed wire but
of a very low current.
Later the family all familied-away
toward motels and airports
laughing, hugging, connecting
going for meaningful and taking pictures of it,
toward motels and airports
laughing, hugging, connecting
going for meaningful and taking pictures of it,
and then it was just us - mother and son
we were alone.
The mother looked around at
everybody gone and then at me
and said, "Oh, it's just you."
The mother looked around at
everybody gone and then at me
and said, "Oh, it's just you."
I drove her back to her nursing home
helped her out of the car
across the parking lot
past the smiling front desk
down the darkening hall and tucked her in,
wished her a happy birthday
of course,
and when I did something else
like, say I love you
the barbed wire current flickered
even duller.
like, say I love you
the barbed wire current flickered
even duller.
I turned out
her light and began
to glow in the dark.
