In advance of Mother’s Day, here’s a poem from Christopher Nelson which celebrates beauty and a son’s love for his mom. It’s also one of those poems that makes you go “Oh!” at the end.
—
Childhood
Because it’s beautiful
you put it in your mouth
and swallow—
Mother’s ring.
For three days you shit
in a colander
then deliver it to her
and she searches
for the emblem
of her heart, lost
inside your body.
The first window
is called Mother.
Sometimes it glows
sometimes it reflects.
You scratch your name
into her—
no, onto the face
you mistake for you.
And the last
window is Time: wind
rattling ear-wigged
corn. Father’s vacant
dinner-table seat.
***
Read Christopher Nelson’s other “Childhood” poem.
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Photo by Jonathan Khoo /Flickr
