Here it goes--a whole month of writing everyday. Here is another poem in process, currently untitled, that I wrote after reading "Heavy" by Mary Oliver.
The things of the world that are kind and maybe also troubled: A pond with wind whipping the water into ripples. Teenagers who love to play Ping Pong Poets--some of them. My hands, dry and aging, looking like my mother's hands. My mother, who would have loved Mary Oliver, who maybe did love Mary Oliver before she forgot the things she loved and did not love. My mother, whose easy tears spring up in my eyes, who took people in to stay in the not-so-spare bedroom, who slept in a fold-out couch to make room. My mother, who loved flowers and hands in the dirt. Did she even own gardening gloves? Who never painted her nails or wore red lipstick but still loved a flowered dress. My mother, who loved me so much she let me go. For my own good. For my good.
6 Comments
Jaana
3/1/2019 03:19:35 pm
These lines really spoke to me about your poem: "My hands, dry and aging, looking like my mother's hands." This made me remember my mother and how much good she did with her hands.
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3/1/2019 04:17:50 pm
Oh dear. This hit me hard. I lost my mom this year and your images and specific small moments sent me down some rabbit holes. I hope that writing this was therapeutic for you.
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Alaina Feliks
3/2/2019 08:01:26 am
Thank you, Heather. My mom passed away a few years ago, and it has taken me quite a long time to figure out how to even start writing about her. It is therapeutic, though, when the words come.
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hsatlas
3/1/2019 06:03:42 pm
Wow. I loved many of your lines about your mother. Your mother - who forgot the things she loved - that was my mother too. So difficult to watch. And I love how you said her tears spring up in your eyes. And I like the line of how your hands are looking like hers. I look in the mirror and see my mother. Beautiful post.
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Alaina Feliks
3/2/2019 08:03:23 am
Thank you so much for sharing your connection. It was a little scary to post this out in the world, and I appreciate your kind words.
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3/1/2019 08:33:15 pm
What a beautiful slice :)
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