| |
|
Mom looks straight at me
through too-big glasses,
hands a blur like birds in flight.
She's Chattanooga Choo-Choo-ing
throughout the house to get me
off her back, prove she can still move,
if she feels like moving.
I grew up watching her dance
across the slick linoleum
of our kitchen floor
to In the Mood and other tunes
from her teens and World War II.
I try to catch her dance
on video, but my phone is new
and I don't know much about
the camera. What I am left with
is this awkward still shot,
snapped the moment she orders
put down that cell phone, Junie,
and watch me dance!
From Gravity: New & Selected Poems (Tebot Bach, 2018).
Used here with permission.
|
.jpg)
Donna Hilbert lives in Long Beach, California, where she is generally up with the sun and walking the beach. A writing workshop instructor for many years (quite a few of her students are featured on YDP!), her work is widely published in multiple languages. Donna's most recent collection is Enormous Blue Umbrella, published in 2025 by Moon Tide Press. Learn more about her at www.donnahilbert.com.
|
|
Jeri Thompson:
I really picture a mother trying to prove she is not as old as you or she thinks? Anyway good for her for moving!
Posted 12/14/2019 01:35 AM
|
Lori Levy:
Great portrayal of the mother in this poem!
Posted 05/11/2019 10:46 PM
|
barbsteff:
Mom's advice is spot on!
Posted 05/11/2019 02:45 PM
|
michael escoubas:
I'm not one for clich�s, Donna, but all of this suggests that the "more things change, the more they stay the same!"
Thank you for adding a cup of joy to begin my day.
Posted 05/11/2019 07:50 AM
|
|
|
|