My Mom is the Worst Workshop Partner

By Adrianna Gordey

i read some of your poems 

her critiques were shrikes         impaled me

   on a thorn         savored my self-esteem 

with her barbed wire beak           dismembered me

       one text at a time

i do pray that you let go of things 

i rescued a starling            after i blocked mom

    baby bird gasped    butter yellow beak       drowned

 in ants       black as words      each shallow breath     a triumph

i hope you can find peace within yourself 

heating pad nest    please        washcloth canopy       please

   a prayer                      please     a command   

recycled serum dropper     water round as hope    please drink 

a gulp       please don’t die    wing flap     open beak

                               asking for more, please 

i fear you may have an empty life. you can only fool others for so long

motherless starling    where is your mother?     pin feathers

   like messages in a bottle         why are you alone?  

 did you fall                         or flee?     i shoved myself

from mom’s nest          what a mercy     to become     motherless

i’m truly sorry i never taught you to forgive 

   the starling survived     stubborn      resilient        species

the same classification         shared with eldest daughters

           i am not a monster                      for forgiving myself

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