debbie millman

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Poetry Tuesday: memory

memory, by Lucille Clifton

ask me to tell how it feels
remembering your mother's face
turned to water under the white words
of the man at the shoe store. ask me,
though she tells it better than i do,
not because of her charm
but because it never happened
she says,
no bully salesman swaggering,
no rage, no shame, none of it
ever happened.
i only remember buying you
your first grown up shoes
she smiles. ask me
how it feels.

1 Comments:

Blogger Tania Rochelle said...

I love this poem. I was cleaning out my files this morning and found a copy of Clifton's "Wishes for Sons," another favorite of mine that I use in my poetry classes at Portfolio Center.

8/02/2006 12:37:00 PM  

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