To Mother on My 9th Birthday
for Marian and Her Son
by Ariana Den Bleyker
Your hands have covered my eyes
with their tender veil, your breath
uncovering the gentle dust that spreadsand settles across my blown wish,
your voice like the wings of a smallbird opening and whispering memoriesin seconds, a year apart from today.
Your lips fold and open with fadingsounds, throwing shadows acrossthe cake. I am happy like that too,
these joyous lights flickering before us,
that we are this bright bleeding tissue
that glistens in deep, untouched
rifts, those deep cuts that make
our love flow over the seasons.The crimson plumes of your lovehang like banners from the ceiling,from clouds. I taste the icing, sitin front of you, watching you risefrom the shadows behind me, spreadyour arms, offer me your eyeslike a surrendering soldier who willalways awaken when my soft spokenwords stir in the warmth of the air.
Today is my son's ninth birthday. I posted a prompt in the ALL CAPS PUBLISHING forums: Write a poem based on a kid's birthday. This is Ariana's response, which makes my eyes leak a little. Okay, quite a bit.
Don't you want to read more of Ariana's tremendous writing? Please consider ordering her book, The Trees Are On Fire. It's lush and wonderful, a treasure, really.