mother

North Star

She was A guiding light An ocean apart Yet hearts linked She built in all of us Brick by brick Her joy Her courage Her confidence Her smile She was our north star Her light Her laughter Her song Her spirit  Guiding us Holding us Remembering us When they say shirezan  Lioness They mean you […]

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I wish for you

That when the bullies came for you You held the line And stepped into the power That the shewolves that came before you Granted you In your skin Your hair The texture of your flesh And that the only reason to ever look back from that line you held, was to see how far you’ve […]

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Cancer

Cancer I wrote down her diagnosis So I could learn it Control it Manipulate it somehow As though deleting it from the page Would release her I wrote down her diagnosis So I could memorize it So I could feel close to her Protect her Fix her I wrote down her diagnosis But the words […]

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Face cream

My mom mixed me this fancy lotion She took all her face creams Her favorite ones Mixed them all up In a fancy jar And gave them to me That was two years ago I use it sparingly So it lasts forever Like I hope she lasts forever Because I cannot bear to think of […]

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Disease

Author’s note: this was written while my beloved mother was in the depths of chemotherapy, a punishing treatment for a punishing disease. Her outlook, progress, and my own have come a long way since then, and we find ourselves in better spirits. Hope abounds as the journey continues, but any light, love, and healing energy […]

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Ride

I cried at the end of the bike ride As the virtual instructor yelled at me to push “Rise up!” He said “Let your heart lift out of your chest! And rise up, let your heart carry you!” I pushed Pedaling hard All of the months and years Rattling in my head As it battled […]

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That voice

I heard my mom sing today It was beautiful Especially after the doctor’s visit She’d said, it’s unusual But people have lived for years With metastatic disease She had to say unusual Why did she have to say unusual? Mom took it as hope I was gripped with fear But we heard “Strangers in the […]

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