Grace
Conceived and born of Grace, my mother,
my brother and I took it all
scraped her vagina, soul, and heart clean
left none for the next five
as they struggled on their life journey.
It’s why too many kids are a problem
when money is hard and
cleaning and cooking relentless
and Grace, try as she could,
grew more and more silent.
Her life lessons were short.
When it came to sex all she said was
sex is very powerful,
It will take your heat and run with it
hot and thrusting till your breath is heavy
leaving only basking in this state of grace
now thrust upon you.
7 thoughts on "Grace"
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I love this poem.
My mother
had nine of us
and knew the power of sex
without talking to us
about it…
Some great lines…
“It will take your heat and run with it.”
“scraped her vagina, soul, and heart clean”
In my own writing, I typically try to avoid using the same word in lines too close together, but there are times when that is not the right decision.
It’s why I appreciate the repeating of ‘thrust’ in the last line and how effective it is for tying the poem together.
love the unexpected way the “state of grace” echoes the beginning like a blessing
I love your willingness to say the hard things out loud here, Laverne. You always tell the truth in your poems, whatever it might be,
This is all so powerful but those last three lines – just perfect.