Mother's Day

The mothers I know and love

Have reworked their past selves

Into new models

Handy mechanics with a wrench

No time on their calloused hands

Yet they invest moonlight hours

Researching how not to

Screw up their children

These caregivers do not necessarily

Have biological offspring

Some of them are quite spectacular

At reparenting themselves

Others are caring for nieces and nephews

As their own

A few more are parenting their parents

The sandwich generation, panini-pressed

Into serving the multitudes

Bringing bread and wisdom

To the weak and downtrodden

Baking concepts into sourdough loaves

Lawyers, bankers, security guards

Photographers and engineers

Somehow they dominate

Professional agendas

While forming hearts

To live better than those who came before

On this fine morning

My son handed me a poem he composed

Shining pride in his thoughtful tribute

I have told him many times

His unique spirit rewrote my destiny

Continually making me a better person

I never needed to be a mother

Left it up to chance and a tilted cervix

My first pregnancy ended after 7 weeks

Bereft and grieving

A whole year spent processing its loss

Looking back to the start of motherhood

I was never a vessel, as is described

No oven to be found over here

Simply a human being

Rewiring my biological machine

To function as best as I can

To drive this family RV

Navigating bumpy roads and wide highways

Whenever it breaks down

My trusty toolbox is full

Midnight Youtube tutorials watched

While everyone slumbers

We cook, we clean

(We definitely don’t want to do these things

If given a choice)

Once my husband accidentally bought me a mop

On International Women’s Day

A joke we still laugh about

Eight years later

Here I am, cleaning up

The mess my mother made

But I know her spills

Were unintentional

And her cookies

Are spectacular