DMC: "Mother's Heart" by M. H. Barnes

MOTHER’S  HEART 


At the kitchen               table, the color

of sunshine and the       centerpiece of  my
childhood, Mother sat doodling our names in
a steno book, over and over, a puffy cloud of
squiggles on the page, tossed this way and
that.  You could read her possession of
us in every direction, and we were
safe on that page, cast in ink,
belonging to her forever.  
In an idle moment, I
think about my
mother and
draw. 


© 2014 Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. All rights reserved.

I originally posted "Mother's Heart" on March 6, 2014. I also wrote poems for my mother for Mother's Day 2013 and Mother's Day 2014. I suspect for some of you, though, this challenge is not so easy. Relationships can be complicated and emotionally taxing. While writing poetry can be cathartic, sometimes what we write is just for ourselves. If you write a poem for your mother but decide not to share, let me know at TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll enter you in this month's drawing regardless. If I were to make one suggestion for those feeling overwhelmed by the scope of this challenge, it would be to focus on one memory, one vignette, be it doodling at the kitchen table or watering plants. Think small.

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Kenn Nesbitt has challenged us to write poems for our mothers this month. Click HERE for more details.

Post your poem on our October 2016 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, October 28th, and one lucky participant will win an autographed copy of Kenn's delightful new anthology, forthcoming from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on November 1, 2016: