I wish I could remove all the
crooked, scratched, and charred puzzle pieces of our past
and replace them with
clean, pure ones that reflect nothing but kindness.

I wish I could take back all the hostile words we said
melt them down into a *** of black ink
and rewrite our conversations
to speak of the basic truth that we love each other.

I wish I could turn every shove and kick and slam of door
and re-route the energy into a good action
a hug or me making brownies for you
because they are your favorite.

Every day I will do this in my mind because
I do not want to live a life without you and
I want to believe there is hope in our relationship and
because you are my mother.