With Grandmother’s seam ripper
I let down the hems of her skirts
With prudent stitching I lengthen the sleeves
because my limbs reach farther than hers
I am the chastened recipient of her bound profile
wasp-waisted
holding a wooden paddle
hand-me-down witness to maturity
I cut the leaves of Grandfather’s leather-bound
volumes pronouncing genus and species and behavior
Premenarcheal teacher-pupil the butterfly:
Lepidopetra means Scaled Wings the female
lacks alar spots
ingests its own chrysalis
The righteous child-mother the schoolmistress
Dorotheus means Gift of God the student
submits to direction
swallows her own wisdom
(An Elastic State of Mind. D.L.D.’s Autobiography in Poems. Wigestrand forlag, 2012)
Thank you for taking the time to read/listen. I’ll be back Sunday with another process journal entry.
I hope you have a great week!
Warmly,
Ren Powell’s Acts of a Recovering Drama Queen
Writing against Melodrama by Engaging with the Natural World
Give some love. It only takes a little ❤️.
For this and other reasons, there's a book I think you'd appreciate - about women, about women and their mothers. Terry Tempest Williams, "When Women Were Birds." She has an engaging way of working with relationships.