Matriarch

 

                         Mother Dear

                         predated the feminist

                         by some five thousand years

                         no one told her

                         but somehow she knew

                         her voice was an illiterate roar

                         "How dare you interrupt my destiny

                         continuity is my middle name"

 

                         So the wall paper peeled

                         our toilet operated on fear

                         the heirs cowered under the table

                         waiting for a life to be lived

                         she raised a mighty forearm

                         against the creditors

                         entered the work force

                         on a wintry day

                         when the snow powdered the telegraph wires

                         in the streets

 

                         And the fathers?

                         prisoners of the American dream

                         home was a bed to sleep

                         and be gone before we awoke

 

                         So Mother dear

                         in the year of the woman

                         I salute you

                         you stand proud on the mantelpiece

                         in your black dress

                         a portrait for all the ages

 

 

                                                      Jack Mashman

                                                      1994