not what he meant, what he said how they spoke her voice, song to me of course it would sound like heaven self before self undivided whole her amniotic cradle his voice through her body him singing alto tenor in her sounds my ears were shaped to hold my first love my first opening brimming full was deep voiced and purple haze mellow as he murmured my name and groaned with me this squawking nasal talking I can’t answer hurts no phone please these street screeching children high pitched mimics of chalk on board ugly screaming me me me into another reverie of what was truly delicious delight my name precious in their mouths sacred in their throats Thanks for reading! If you enjoy Raising Mothers, please consider making a one-time or recurring contribution to help us remain ad-free. If even a fraction of subscribers signed up to contribute $1 per month, Raising Mothers could be self-sustaining!

You were born into a world of sound — the cacophony of the uterus — the iambs of my heart, the ebb and flow tempo of an amniotic sea — yin  yang— harmonious rhythm. The uterine song we shared — two souls tethered by flesh. My belly button buddy.  I nourished you into life; your breath nourished my soul.  The appoggiatura — the unexpected grace note christened by pixie dust. Lorelai, my life-song. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy Raising Mothers, please consider making a one-time or recurring contribution to help us remain ad-free. If even a fraction of subscribers signed up to contribute $1 per month, Raising Mothers could be self-sustaining!

  i first saw it after a nurse scanned my mother’s skin under a blue light searching for a vein to insert a new lifeline where illness swelled her arms and hands as she laid unconscious i already knew my father’s last name inked on one hand though i never asked when how or where she got it did she hide it from her mother did her mother find out and disapprove my mother who told me not to wear make-up questioned the length and fit of my skirt even though old photos revealed a woman who wore cherry red lipstick on full lips and strutted long-legged in cut off shorts now the doctors search for clues and a cause was it the cancer that returned or the ailments stacked against her in this moment of stillness and searching i notice another tattoo i look close to read letters that perhaps were once black, now faded green and i imagine someone other than the woman i’ve known all of my life but only part of …

my daughters gaze wide-eyed at my hair they’ve never seen this style in their three and five years of life oooo mami your hair they say as they count and name them rocks on a moon ladybug polka dots a hundred and ninety-nine bouncy buns eyeballs all around town bushes on a summer sun grassy day i resist the urge to correct offer a label other than what they have divined there is no enlightenment better than their own  they are correct to fascinate over what grows from our heads Thanks for reading! If you enjoy Raising Mothers, please consider making a one-time or recurring contribution to help us remain ad-free. If even a fraction of subscribers signed up to contribute $1 per month, Raising Mothers could be self-sustaining!