We’re at the shops
and Tim runs off of to the escalator
and Mum shouts to him:
You stop there!
And Tim freezes
like ice got hold of him
And Mum pulls out
the flap over the pram
and helps baby Didi
with the milk bottle
and I scream to Mum:
Let me go;
I want to go to Tim!
But she pulls hard at the rein
and I can feel it tighten
round my waist
a little
And I scream:
Mum! I want to go!
And she says:
Jill -
be quiet and still
as my shadow!
And from the distance
Big Tim screams:
Mom! Can I go?!
And Mom screams loudest:
You come here
and stand right beside
your sis Jill!
And we’re all together again
baby in the pram
Mum standing beside
and me on the rein
And Tim sulking at the side

And nobody else
from the crowd dares
come near
for they all know
my Mum -
she’s Wonder Woman
she’s Super Hero
cos my Mum’s supermom

Throw open my closet doors and don my best business attire,
I am fueled by coffee and motivation to succeed.
The youngest of my colleagues, I have excelled in the pursuit of the american dreams.
I am supermom.
I am superwoman.
Hear me roar.

The fall came on without warning.
This mental prison confined me and I could not escape.
Spiraling down, down, down until…
CRASH.
I am no more.

The alarm blares and I hit snooze for the umpteenth time.
I roll out of bed, slither into day old sweats and smooth my hair with a greasy hand.
Did I feed my child today?
Who cares anyway?
I am the middle-aged teenager, tromping around town in pajamas.
Bad decisions, yeah, I’ve made a few.
But who are you to judge anyway?

1/6/2016