maternal
look at that whale,
laughed a kid
standing next to me
at the city pool.
yea
that's my
baby-sitter,
i said.
it was my mother
over three hundred pounds
embarrassed
to be seen with her.
that was before
she became a drug addict
lost her job
as a nurse
and tried killing herself
by running her car
into a tree.
i know
next to nothing
about my mother:
she played guitar
was a thespian
worked two jobs
to get herself
through nursing school.
i don't know
what her
dreams are
what they
were
who was the
first boy to
kiss her
or why she
stayed with
my father.
i don't
even know
her middle name.