Mother's Voice



She gives me that "disappointed look" again,
The one I know so well,
The one that leveled me as a child,
Sticks out her chin, pulls back her shoulders,
And purses her lipsticked mouth.
"You are a self-indulgent girl," she says,
"With no real understanding of the world around you."

(Even though I am 51 years old,
She still looks upon me as a "girl".)

She tuts, "You are white, from privilege,
From a stable Christian home.
You are college educated and you aren't gay.
You have it all, and you should be happy.
Why on God's earth do you need to be so rebellious?
What can you possibly have to rebel against?"

I pause and ponder, and respond quietly...
"Against you, dear Mother."

About this poem

I once read that, as parents, we must be careful how we speak to our children because our words become their inner voice. My mother and I could hardly be more different.

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Written on September 15, 2021

Submitted by KrissLuckett on September 20, 2021

Modified by KrissLuckett on September 23, 2021

41 sec read
9

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXXXXX XX XXXAXX AX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 724
Words 135
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 7, 2, 6, 2

Kriss Luckett

Songwriter, amateur poet, professional performing musician. I'm also an artist, and "mom" to an amazing 12 year old son. I live in Indianapolis, IN with my husband and son (who are my musical partners), and a ridiculous number of pets. I'm a self-employed massage therapist, and have owned my own business since 2015. In my rare spare time, I like to kayak, camp, and bake, and I collect vinyl records. I have been a performing musician for 32 years, with roots in punk and alt-rock and modern folk. My non-musical writing has been mostly for my own personal enjoyment, but I am broadening my scope of exposure, and hope to publish at some point. I have recorded 6 albums in my music career, with aspirations of recording a solo record at some point in the near future. My inspiration comes from my own experiences, the experiences of friends and characters, musings on the state of the world and life in general, and stories I make up. I am not a "look out my window and ponder the flowers" sort of writer, although there's nothing wrong with that. I began writing for enjoyment in high school, when I had a teacher who recognized my penchant for writing "dark stories", and encouraged me to keep at it. I grew up in small town Indiana, where "girls just don't write such things", so I have kept most of my edgier writing to myself. This is the first place I've published anything that wasn't songwriting. Hope you enjoy my work. more…

All Kriss Luckett poems | Kriss Luckett Books

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