MOTHER
My mother taught me strength.
My ten commandments were her words of wisdom.
Get an education, get established, be your own person.
She never wanted me to depend on anyone, especially a man.
To her, men were serpents.
They were our damnation.
“Eve trusted a man.” She’d say, her cigarette turning to ash in her hands.
“Now we all are cursed.”
The sins of Eve became the sins of our mothers.
She tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen.
Infatuated with the forbidden.
I strayed from her religion.