what scared her
her mothers bruised face broke the azaelas but the mirror of her mother
was the way she moved her hands
all fingers when you were born her mother had said
as she grew old each passing the girl knew her mother’s hands well–
watched them age spotted and bulbous veins lumping the edge
of knuckle she smoothed the blue lips down with her fingers pressed them
deep thinking the smoothing-of-them would help her (mother) live longer
One thought on "what scared her"
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I was afraid, at first to open this because of the title and content warning. I am glad I did.
I feel the ache in:
the smoothing-of-them would help her (mother) live longer