i call my mother once or twice a week
just to say hey
i love you, did you eat dinner
i am as old now as she was when i was young
and thought she was old
so how old she is now
continues to be a surprise
because she seems so young
I see my mother 4 or 5 times a month
she has a busy schedule
works, volunteers, goes to church
galavants with
the other women she’s met along the way
and of course her children
my brothers and sister and I
are old enough that she doesn’t
Have to see us everyday
she knows we’ll call and catch her
as catch can.
my mother calls me
once or twice a week
just to say hey
i love you, are you getting any exercise?
she worries
I don’t eat
sleep too much
sleep too little
spend too much time alone
she knows all my telephone smiles
and that some are just for show
even if she doesn’t know why
I call my mother once or twice
a week to remind myself that
she had a life, like me
before
becoming a mother
my mother.