Melanie Marttila | Sudbury, ON | LCP member since 1998

you are
Not the Mother She Remembers
shaven head revealing shunt
paralyzed face unrecognizable
mind wounded, leaking cerebral fluid,
thoughts, and fears better left unspoken
to the child who remembers you
who utters your name with the same reverence as
God
better she be loved
by you, by the woman who would
replace you, but can’t
love enough, love you enough, love the child enough
to be
the mother she remembers
better to let wounds heal
in time, the time, the love
that heals all wounds, the wounds that speak
of blood shed and pain won and life earned
over time
one breath at a time
that’s how you’ll learn, return,
become once again
the mother she remembers

***

Originally published in NeoVerse, 1998

***
Melanie Marttila has been writing since she was seven years old.  The inner poet took a while to emerge (though she still feels like an apprentice).  She lives in Sudbury with her husband and dog.  She is working on her first novel between the day job, sleeping, and everything else that life throws her way.

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