My Mother’s Name

Cherry

By onemorething

Sun, 07 Mar 2021
  • 2060 reads
10 comments
 

Maternity is not a myth,

despite experience, despite 

Leto, adrift on an island,

transforming its inhabitants 

into frogs. My mother's name

is foreign to my lips - 

I have rarely felt its sound

form from synapse to tongue.

It is strange that what should be

familiar is unused, and I remember 

the first evening that she told me

she did not love me; without 

why or when, to suddenly become

the cuckoo in your own nest. 

It was like drowning, and since,

I cannot help but imagine people

stood on bridges, bent over rivers,

at a crossroads of passages

in the contemplation of the unnatural,

where everything might change -

from breathing to not,

to wear the water like satin.

 

Image is from here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Latona_And_The_Frogs_by_Francesco_Trevisani.jpg

Certificate 18
Poem
Unclassified

Comments

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

An honest and expressive admission of the emotive issue of a mother and a daughter who feels unloved that can irrevocably sever the relationship between the two.
A not uncommon situation with which different generations are faced not just in relation to the mother but both parents.
This was characterised by the often-quoted line by Philip Larkin from his poem: “This be the verse”, 'They fuck you up, your mum and dad'.

 

 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Hi Luigi, the Larkin poem - yes, he about sums it up, doesn't he. Thank you for reading it and your thoughtful comment. I'm not entirely comfortable being so direct about my childhood. I prefer to lurk in metaphor and suggestion so it's always lovely when people are kind when I dare to be more open. Rachel x

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

The fact that you can take something so traumatic and turn it into a thing of such beauty says so much about your power as a writer and a person.  Thanks for sharing it, Rachel.

And as both someone's child and someone's parent, I've always thought Philip Larkin was absolutely spot on.

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks very much Jane, that means a lot. I'm quite sure Larkin was right too. Such a perfect opening line as well. x

 

Submitted by Kilb50 on

I'm glad you didn't lurk in metaphor onemorething. Deceptively simple, your poem is a treasure of considered wisdom and emotion. Louise Gluck's later, intensely personal poems came to mind. Great writing!

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you. I'm sure I'll retreat to metaphors soon enough, but glad I peeked out from behind them today. Thanks for reading it and your lovely comment. Rachel :)

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

This is really striking and quite apt for forthcoming mother's day nonsense. It's so hard for me to imagine this but it's happened to a couple of my friends and it's always with them. Your poem is an eloquent, sharp and moving. I love the last line.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you Jane. I did write this on the back of the recent advertising build up to Mother's Day. I'm not rattled by it anymore, but I used to find Mother and Father's Days at least awkward, if not sometimes upsetting and triggering. I think more people are aware now too that not everyone has childhoods that are something to celebrate. Thank you for reading it. :)

 

Submitted by marandina on

I read this and it made me think of "Long Lost Family" as I've watched a few recently. The one thing that came up over and over again is that children parted from birth families just needed to know if they were wanted. That missing knowedge affected people over many decades and was a massive relief when they were reunited and told that they were loved after all. It's a primeval emotion hard-wired into all of us. Brave of you to express this and I have no doubt it will resonate with many reading.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Paul. I am very hesitant and nervous about sharing any of it, but baby steps help and there's always a relief in the connection it brings with others. I haven't seen Long Lost Family - is it that reunion programme? I tend to avoid all things that I might find triggering. Think I'd be ok with The Masked Singer though!! :)