“Poem in Which My Mother Snapped” by Denise Duhamel
Poem-a-Day | Poets.org
Length2m
About this audiobook
My sister and I played catchwith a warm tomato from my uncle’s gardeneven though my motherkept warning us stop it.We were in the kitchen,my mother at the stove.Grammy and the auntsthought it was funny—they’re just kids. My motherhad cut off our hair when it was too snarledto brush, as we whinedand flinched, even aftershe’d doused uswith No More Tears.Grammy missed tamingour curls into braids,blamed my motherfor not being patient,for our crooked bangs.My aunts let my sister strumher plastic guitareven though the stringskept popping off.My mother finally snappedthe toy guitar in half.Mostly she was a good,funny mom who let uspick out crazy Easter hatsfrom a discount bin, who gave us Swedish Fishand Burl Ives recordsand taught us to read.Of course, the tomatosplattered onto the floor.My sister and I rememberthe bloody insides and seedssplashed on the linoleum but not much more.
