The Transmutation of Mother
At night I construct her, again.
I drag her into the garden, tug
her - pink feet pull and stick -
up the steps
to the lawn. I prop her
upright against the pear tree.
Now, place her right leg
leading forward (the way she had
of stepping towards you
when she was happy) and crank her left arm
up (she’s saying It’s time to leave for school).
I clothe her in red,
the dress she wore when we wafted down
into the town for shopping,
her waist nipped in
with the silver buckle
made in the shape of a snake
eating his tail. Now, pile her hair
high and fold it under, into a fat roll
(her favourite fashion).
When I step back onto the patio
she’s bending, smiling and looking at something
on the ground. The sides of her nose
wrinkle up as she laughs;
the wide skirts of her dress
sway in the breeze and catch
the edge of the rosebush. She waves at me
to come, to see. And flakes of snow
falling in early summer
spill from the flowering cherry
onto her bare arm
as she calls me to her.
At dawn she shrivels away:
her hair and arms float up
into the clouds,
her skirt and feet disintegrate
to brown grains. They drift down
through the lawn
into the soil.
Page(s) 56-57
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