Imitation 10

What I Learned From My Mother

By: Lauren Jernberg

I learned from my mother how to live my life,

care for others, and do things right.

She showed me how to send off cards,

to those in need when life is hard.

She told me to always lend a hand,

to smile so others won’t feel so sad.

She made me tough inside and out.

When I find myself in doubt

I go to her to problem solve.

She never fails to be involved.

My mother taught me to have fun,

but to try to win when all was done.

We played games and read good books

She even taught me how to cook.

My mom is full of laughter too

Our house can sound just like a zoo.

She taught me faith and how make

Good choices learned from her mistakes.

She is my mom and I live her so.

I never let these things go.

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What I Learned From My Mother

By: Julia Kasdorf

I learned from my mother how to love

the living, to have plenty of vases on hand

in case you have to rush to the hospital

with peonies cut from the lawn, black ants

still stuck to the buds. I learned to save jars

large enough to hold fruit salad for a whole

grieving household, to cube home-canned pears

and peaches, to slice through maroon grape skins

and flick out the sexual seeds with a knife point.

I learned to attend viewings even if I didn’t know

the deceased, to press the moist hands

of the living, to look in their eyes and offer

sympathy, as though I understood loss even then.

I learned that whatever we say means nothing,

what anyone will remember is that we came.

I learned to believe I had the power to ease

awful pains materially like an angel.

Like a doctor, I learned to create

from another’s suffering my own usefulness, and once

you know how to do this, you can never refuse.

To every house you enter, you must offer

healing: a chocolate cake you baked yourself,

the blessing of your voice, your chaste touch.