We once were walking hand in hand when you said quietly:
“Here I am accepted, I am loved for me”.
I’ll never lose that moment,  for always it rings true;
you are cherished, you are loved for simply being you.
You sure do make it easy, for every day you show your love; support and loyalty through happy times and woe!
Your calm yet strong willed presence helps us keep our grounding and in return we hope you feel our endless love abounding!
So let me take you by the hand and say it evermore,
Mum you are so special, precious and adored!

To the woman who cuts fruits for me everytime I study
To the woman who loves shopping for matching clothes with me
To the woman who cooks all my favorite dishes
To the woman who let's me rant about about my days
To the woman who cries everytime I do
To the woman who makes funny faces everytime we click pictures together
To the woman who treats every child with the same love she gives me
To the woman who gave birth to me

I love you so much mum

I sit in silence with my mother because how am I meant to say the roots of everything I despise about myself lie at her feet?
That I've learnt to refuse to let her make me feel shame and guilt for eating?
That to this day I look at my body and hear the echos of insults she hurled at eight year old me about the
fat on my hips,
their dips and dimples?
That my partners hands caress that same flesh
and she kisses away my hatred?

I sit in silence with my mother because she doesn't talk, she shouts
out of anger at the cage she's in.
And in her volume I hear the echos of everything she's been unable to achieve,
all her hopes and dreams cruches by pre-conceived ideas of femininity and society's prying eye?
Can never ask why she allowed herself to be chained, and silenced.
Why her present is only half the shadow of her past.

I sit in silence with my mother because how can I say everything I take pride in is what she hates most about me?
That my sexuality is not a choice, but I've chosen that label and I treasure it?
That femininity to me is hair where I can see it,
swearing when people can hear,
and unapoligetically taking up space others would rather I vacate?
That my rejection of faith isn't a reflection of her,
but rather proof she raised someone who learnt to challenge before they accept?
That I'm strong and resiliant

but still soft around the edge?

Love is a smile that never fades,
        but is glanced upon

every morning,.

For we are two parts making more
            than a whole..

For one + one isn't two

its a family of more parts than just
                               us both.

Mum he's teasing me,

                             Dad she stole my deodorant...


Were more than when we started..
    for one and more is never the amount

we expect.

As a family is never what you expect it to add up too..

My heart’s lub-dub
pushes blood half lost.

In the lab they would no doubt see
an elegant double helix
pointing to a certain ancestry

but I see faded yellow turtle necks
and kitchen based bowl cuts
rain hammered car roofs
peering through steamed windows
at the sea

I smell lemon zest
taste cake mix
and hear the muffled,
distance thwarted hum
of Radio Wales

In amongst my GATC
you are woven unloseable,
a shepherd to my instincts

I give thanks with each breath

We see the strong supportive woman you have always been,
- Now it's our turn.
The unselfish way you have liberally spread your time on us, right to the edges,
-Now it's our turn.
The generous helpings of patience that seemed to come so naturally, with seconds for those who want it,
-Now it's our turn.
You're guiding words seasoned with kindness, so full of flavour,
-Now it's our turn.
The unconditional love you have always poured out on us, full and overflowing,
-Now it's our turn...

Please can you write down the recipe?

The centre
Warmth that lends life, strength and purpose
My Sun
Bright; I am a flower unfurled, fragrant under his light.

My delicate dance, hard but only pressure forms diamonds on the mirror.
I see me complete in you.