I am working on my verse novel inspired by the poems I wrote about my father during National Poetry Month and while the book will be told from the POV of the two girls, I am trying to see the main characters through the eyes of other family members and doing some character building through poetry.

Here is a new original poem from the point of view of one of the mothers in the book.

Seeing you, I see me
(your crooked mouth, your green eyes)
and him
(your long fingers, your black hair)
and it scares me so much
(you have no idea)
to remember that time
I so want to forget.

Hearing you, I hear me
(when you sing)
and him
(when you lose your temper)
and it makes me
(God help me)
want to tape your mouth shut
so I won’t ever
hear his voice again.

I know you don’t understand
why I tell you I can’t remember
but the truth is
I already remember too much
(the lies, the cheating)
and I think
If I let myself remember it all
(no! no! no!)
all of it
it would finish what he tried to do
himself
and kill me.

Just because I gave birth to you
doesn’t mean I have to tell you everything
or anything about him
at all.

@copyright Susan Taylor Brown 2010
All Rights Reserved

Picture Book of the Day has the  full round-up of all the Poetry Friday posts.