Mama, by CJ Heck


I remember Mama
blowing chewing gum bubbles
to entertain us
while she ironed.
I was too young for school
Sesame Street wasn’t invented yet
the rain was pouring outside
and I was awed.


I remember Mama
sewing at her machine into the night
when she had to get up early for work
patching a favorite pair of cutoffs
just one more time
or putting pockets on pants
because my little brother adored them
and I still hear her words
‘There’s all kinds of ways to say
I love you.’


I remember Mama
teaching us that beauty on the inside
was more important than on the outside.
‘A kind word to a stranger
might be the only kind word
that person heard all day’
... and how good it felt
finding out she was right.


I remember Mama
telling us to hold onto our dreams.
Make them happen and never say ‘I can’t’
and how funny I thought it
when she said 
the world was our watermelon
and all we had to do was
grab it and take a bite.


I remember Mama
who taught us best by example
with her unconditional love.
Love isn’t love until it’s given away
and it’s in the giving that we know
it truly does come back ten-fold.


I remember, Mama.

A Treasure in the Attic, by CJ Heck


Treasures abound in an attic 
if you're patient enough 
to wade through 
the spiders and dust to find them. 


I found a picture of Mama there 
in an old camelback steamer trunk 
crowded with unknown relatives 
in musty photo albums, 
dried rose bouquets, 
and size six shoe boxes 
filled with old love letters. 


The photo was crackled, 
its corners bent, 
but there she was.

 
A bandana tied round her head 
almost held the whispy curls 
celebrating their freedom 
in an ocean breeze, 
pants rolled up mid-calf, 
cuffs barely skimming the water 
and she looked so happy.


How I wish I had known her then -- 
so young and pretty, 
living carefree in a world 
filled with Daddy, 
before children and cancer.


And in a treasure from the attic, 
I found the love I had known 
that had so shaped me 
throughout my life. 
How terribly I miss her.

Full Circle, by CJ Heck


A little girl clops in mommy's heels, 
her dress, a floppy hat. 
The borrowed pearls she's chosen 
dangle halfway down her back. 


Her face a shining rainbow, 
ruby lips, cheeks tinted pink, 
blue splashes on both eyelids, 
powder snowflakes in the sink. 


She'll go twirling in a ballroom, 
a princess with her knight. 
Or better still, be mommy 
out with daddy Friday night. 


In a child's imagination 
everything is crystal clear, 
yet the truth beneath the surface 
is revealed in mommy's mirror. 


That little girl is all grown up, 
clothes and shoes are now my size... 
but the mirror of maturation 
… is my own daughters’ eyes.
 
I love you, Mama ...