Looking Back

I haven't thought very highly of my Mother as of late, so I thought I'd write about the good things I remember from my childhood. I was blessed with the childhood I had. I will never, ever be able to call her out on that.

Ate shortening
And Mom would sing the song
"Momma's little baby loves
Shortenin', shortenin'
Momma's little baby
Loves shortening bread."

Then it was simple.
Like cookie dough,
Trips to the park to sunbathe,
And Creedence Clearwater Revival
Resounding between fake wood panels
In our station wagon.

Mom would twist her shadowy black hair
On the back of her head,
Adorn catty shades,
And sing along, when the mood was right.

If it wasn't you would know because
She'd take up your middle name.
That's how ya knew you were
Really in for it.

Ate shortening,
Raw eggs,
(What Mom didn't let her kids
eat cookies dough?)
Sunbathed without sunblock,
Listened to CCR...

And today I'm a Mom
No salmonella,
No skin cancer,
And I listen to alternative.
But I'll be damned
If I let my kids
Chew straight lard.

~*~*~*~*~*~

When I was a young
Light-haired
Go-lucky
Little girl

I'd run
Skitter-skatter
Down the trail
That winded its way
To gnarled driftwood

A particular piece
Arched triumphantly
Over the shoreline
A castle for
The new baby frogs
That marched
Over stubborn
Blades of grass

I'd kneel under
The fallen soldier
Of the forest
And here I was
Mommy's princess

For this is the place
She reigned
When she
Made forts too

~*~*~*~*~*~