Your Mother

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By Jane Hyphen

Tue, 16 Oct 2018
  • 6244 reads
26 comments
 

 

She’s a stain on you your mother

On us, a serpent brimming spite

Casts her venom spit-hissed

And there’s no hope

No light relief, no antidote

Each interlude, each verse

Even when her voice

Is sweet, she sings a sting

A stitch, this toxic cloak

She knits us all around

Bitter is her craft

It’s not her fault you say

Her mother’s mother’s

Family all the same

Their tree grew twisted, gnarled

With cankers, hollowed through

Yet still it buds and blooms

With putrid nectar weeps

Ill will runs down to seep

The floorboards of our bond

And then the rot sets in

She is a taint on us

We stand no chance

To cut her off and

Cleave this noxious branch

She’ll leave the deadly spores  

Upon the ground to take

Her form and haunt

Us through the years

And fortify my doubts

 

 

Certificate 12
Poetry Monthly

Comments

Submitted by celticman on

of the parents, they fuck-you-up school of poetry. 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks celticman, they certainly do that. Maybe it will be better when we are all grown in laboratories. And thank you for the cherries.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

"To cut her off to and" didn't understand this line?

this is very angry! I hope you feel better now :0) It's like a speech out of Shakespeare

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks Di_Hard, that was a typo. I don't feel better though...why are some families so deeply dysfunctional, the ripple effects are huge.

 

Submitted by Denzella on

This mother-in-law, I presume, sounds venomous but, nevertheless,  I much enjoyed the writing.

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

She's a toxic formulation unfortunately, probably live forever. Thanks for your comment.

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

I've met one like that (unfortunately) - deadly spores is spot on. Well deserved cherry

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks Insert. I wouldn't mind but she wasn't even there for her own family, she left, had affairs etc but still hangs around to.....sporulate.

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

Perhaps we could get them together, The one I know used to stalk me on here- probably still does. they might get along!

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Ha ha laugh

 

Submitted by hilary west on

Hi,

I enjoyed the toxicity of this and the strength of venom you use in portraying this unfortunate woman! Who is really venomous - you or her?

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks Hilary. I'm not sure, there was no venom before her though or elsewhere in my life. I guess that's why her relationships all suffer. Sad as it is toxic I suppose.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

So sad and dangerous. But does also make you realise the value there is to real kind giving motherhood (always a challenge, and no-one perfect). And from an outside perspective the awareness that such a person will be faced with it someday, and actually even now cannot be really happy, cannot maybe know what they are missing. Can be changed but very hard, become a habit I suppose.

An intersting take on the Poetry Monthly. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

You're right Rhiannon, no-one is perfect, least of all mothers and there is a real value in extending kindness and when that becomes a habit the dividends are limitless. I suppose some people really struggle to give. Thanks for commenting.

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

I really like the energy and daring here!

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

This is our facebook and twitter pick of the day!  Do share if you like it too.

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks for this Philip, I like the picture,  it's me on a bad day.

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Ha ha!  Love your poem. smiley

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Your picture- is it Medusa? I can't make it out and can't make it bigger?

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Hi Tom - yes, it's Caravaggio's Medusa.  I thought the image would be appropriate.  I hope Jane approves.  I can't make it bigger I'm afraid.

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Well then she just has to be happy with what she gets hey? We're not all Tarzan beggars can't be choosers.

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Oh - I can take it off if she doesn't want it.

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

I love the picture - thanks Philip, very apt.

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

There is an older lady, no relation to me, who, I have just discovered, has perpetrated a nasty and expensive (from my point of view) fraud on me, and so I am really feeling this poem at the moment. Yes, yes and yes!

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Oh no airyfairy, that sounds horrible. Maybe there's an imaginative way to get back at her while maintaining your own standards as a quality person. Thanks for your comment.

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

This is our Poem of the Week - congratulations!