Today's poem is by TC Tolbert

I wish you (my mother once told me
       

I wish you (my mother once told me — mother of my child
hood — even though water is water-weary — what is prayer if not quiet
who has made me — with hands laid down — whose body
you become when you touch — whose face and whose shoulders

worth shaking — what will I not hear when I look back
at you — who is not the mother of a daughter — who is not
the mother of a man — we are right to be afraid of our bodies — wind
is carried by what is upright and still moves what has) had

(been buried deep enough in the ground to be called roots —
when will this be the world where you stop — whatever broke
into you was torn by the contact — a face wears a face it can see —
what is alive is unrecognizable — need it be — who is my mother,

mother — no one — who hasn't killed herself by
growing into someone — I'm sorry you have) never been born.

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Copyright © 2023 TC Tolbert All rights reserved
from The Quiet Practices
Beloit Poetry Journal
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission