Monday, May 27, 2013

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.

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