“Pink carnation if mother's alive; white if she isn't.”
Fidgeting with the hanky in her sleeve
WPA standout
fending off tears
armed wide-eyed with headache
finding her voice orphan-thin-- tethered--
by wire-will
She sings it still...
“Tis the month of our Mother...”
Behind that white carnation
Behind walls of flesh and ribs
HUGE WATERS
WANT--
...the church vacant of mothers
NEED--
the church
vacant
as clear blood
BURSTS
into faint blue concert
Whirling Burning Blurring--
The PURE
--distance--
of audience
of Saints
of God
OF HER MOTHER
“...O blessed and beautiful day.....”
_____________
May 14, 2018
May 14, 2018 at 2:44 PM UTC
“Pink carnation if mother's alive; white if she isn't.”
Fidgeting with the hanky in her sleeve
WPA standout
fending off tears
armed wide-eyed with headache
finding her voice orphan-thin-- tethered--
by wire-will
She sings it still...
“Tis the month of our Mother...”
Behind that white carnation
Behind walls of flesh and ribs
HUGE WATERS
WANT--
...the church vacant of mothers
NEED--
the church
vacant
as clear blood
BURSTS
into faint blue concert
Whirling Burning Blurring--
The PURE
--distance--
of audience
of Saints
of God
OF HER MOTHER
“...O blessed and beautiful day.....”
_____________
"Tis The Month of Our Mother/O blessed and beautiful day..." is from a Catholic hymn sung in honor of the ****** Mary by Catholic school children during May.
May Crowning is an oddly idolatrous ritual and veneration of the statue of Mary that very much associates her with "The Queen of Heaven" and pagan rituals.
Why my mother was required to perform in this ceremony only weeks after the death of her own mother has always escaped me. She was thirteen and certainly grieving. Her father had died less than a year before.
As an older woman, she cried as she told me about it in such detail.
Certainly part of the reason we ended up in public school. Not sorry. Not sorry.
WPA was the Works Progress Administration, which during the 1930s made jobs for the needy during The Great Depression. Best known for huge development projects, WPA workers also filled jobs in clothing factory lines.