A while ago I found a photo
Of you. Before I knew you.
Blazing brown and beautiful in the Australian sun
I traced my finger across
The line of your hip
Sunglasses perched untidily upon your bleached blonde hair
Hands that had not yet held me
clutching a windswept map And a lit cigarette
your eyes
Squinting at the sun, glimmering with hope


Is it you? The same woman
Who gave me light
Who I tore apart with my anger but also my love?
I hope you remember, when you look in our eyes
You may not always have been my mother
But I was always your child