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2014-01-23T22:16:20-08:00January 23rd, 2014|Parenthood|

This mothering business

We are eating out of thermoses
after your swim lesson
when you quietly sound out
the word family

I alarm you by yelling
that you can read

which you can’t quite
because you guessed family again
for the word door
though it might have been
the pressure

I agree to a few minutes
in the playground on the way out
because we are late
but it is too sunny
to say no

and as I watch you climb
the chain link ladder
I am comforted
by how your legs wobble

how you want me to watch
you go down the slide
each time

and how you still get excited
to tell me exactly where
you are going to hide
and then seem to believe me
when I say I can’t find you

it is strange
this mothering business

I know you can’t stay small
and yet it aches sometimes
to help you grow
away.

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