rabbit stew

think of your mother
and the pain she suffers
and think of her often
impounding your heart
with breast milk chains
and charmed guilt pains
and flashes of torture
heart-rending armor enclosed in gold leaf
and the sprinkles of clover
ped’ling round on the street
begging for sunlight
and coffee ground dreams
and newspaper emptiness
furnishing spite

and think of her harbor
closed dark before school
tramping halloween masks
with holes in the claims
that everything’s fine,
hands folded eternal
in solemn glum gloominess
noting bland disapproval
with threadbarren brown smirks

and think of your mother
just once in this life
instead of yourself
instead of the heartache
bouncing between
causal dissolute fantasies
and inappropriate hopes.
the gene pool is leaking
the mirror cant lie
hold your eyes shut
and think of your mother
stop all this weeping
swallow the tide
prove yourself worthy
of living inside
think of your mother
and thank her and say
that you’ve grown and
you’ve lived and
there’s no going back
but that you think
of her often
and you wish she
could dream
a little dream
just once for fucksake

the rocking chair creaks
from cradle to grave
while the sunlight glares in,
whispering to holes in the wall
which shiver when you call
that we're really going to get it right this time