In the Mouth of Language

Last updated on: July 18, 2013 at 12:38 pm by Sarah Babbs

In the Mouth of Language 2013-07-18T12:38:41-04:00 Sarah Babbs

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Tomorrow is my mother’s 55th birthday. At least it would be, if she hadn’t died just a month before her 33rd birthday. I don’t want that to get lost, or to just be a quick take. So today I’m posting a poem for my mother. She gave me her eyes, her quick temper, and her loving heart. She gave me life.

Your truly as a peanut, and mi madre.

When I am Asked

Lisel Mueller

When I am asked

how I began writing poems,

I talk about the indifference of nature.

It was soon after my mother died,

a brilliant June day,

everything blooming.

I sat on a gray stone bench

in a lovingly planted garden,

but the day lilies were as deaf

as the ears of drunken sleepers

and the roses curved inward.

Nothing was black or broken

and not a leaf fell

and the sun blared endless commercials

for summer holidays.

I sat on a gray stone bench

ringed with the ingenue faces

of pink and white impatiens

and placed my grief

in the mouth of language,

the only thing that would grieve with me.

Family

Poetry

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