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i started this poem in april and never finished it.
it may still be unfinished, but i wanted to make sure that 30 poems were created and shared in my little online universe in 2018. due to the rigor of a daily challenge, i find that my poems tended to be shorter. this one was longer and i was able to add more to it as i posted it here.
happy reading and happy writing!
precious Pearl
(c) 2018 by margaux delotte-bennett
there is much about his family
that i don’t know
he being the man who helped conceive me
but decided to leave me
by walking out of the frame before i turned 3
this man’s mother
known to be as valuable as her namesake pearl
as round
as hard
as free & needing of salt water & time
to be her truest self
Mama Pearl condensed to MP
clipped
contained
she came to the big city from Jamaica
working as a hotel cleaner near a NY airport
joining the legions of women smelling of bleach
feet tired & swollen
marching the halls
disinfecting the stalls
trying to be swift, but only
just
so
she sent money back to the island nation
where her mother was raising her kids
american money able to buy finer things
more provisions
thoughts & dreams with a brush stroke of
big apple visions
that never brought intimacy
as her children grew & changed exponentially
more & more distant they seemed
each time she returned “home” from overseas
grandmother called Mama Lee
& she, mother, simply called “MP”
delineating roles & ranks for all to see
i remember monogramed towels
given or swiped
at the end of the night
from the fancy hotel
i remember feeling a distance
no recollection of cuddles & kisses
but still love
nurturing wrapped in resources shared freely
my mum remembers asking to borrow her salary
for a few days or up to a week
a request often granted
without a need to speak
MP, big of bone
and brown of hue
trapped in shell-like capitalist confines
scattered by the sea
yet still
too
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