Rhian Elizabeth, girls etc

taylor. fucking. swift.

thanks to my teenage daughter, if you dare me to sing you

every single song taylor swift has ever written, i could easily

do it, lyric perfect too. in our house taylor’s name is sacred,

her face repeated on our walls like the image of our blessed

lady mary, and i feel i ought to make the sign of the cross each

time i pass it, even though i am not a practising catholic. i once

asked my daughter who she would save if we were both drowning,

me or taylor (she could only choose one of us), and i knew

by the awkward silence that followed that it would be me left sinking,

mouth open in a silent scream, while taylor is pulled from the water,

caramel hair falling in perfect, wet curls like an all-american mermaid,

ready to write her next song about heartbreak.

Further details

Marian Kaplun Shapiro, Upbringing: Poems

You

You’re walking down the sidewalk, glancing

at the storefront windows – this bakery, that clothing store,

a sandwich shop – when suddenly you see a person

dressed just as you are. The same cap, the very same

jacket – you realize, laughing perhaps, that person is YOU,

YOU, grownup you whose hair is greyish, yes, of course

it’s you. No longer the you who was afraid of the dark,

or the you who thought your kindergarten teacher was so old – she

was, you learned just recently, a mere 25.

Perhaps you’ve met yourself today, in these pages. Perhaps

you’ve gasped with recognition on one page, but not another.

You might have cried. Or shook with anger. Or spoke aloud

to the parent, or the kid, trying to explain, to offer the perspective

you’ve attained. After all, you  made it through. Perhaps you’ve thought –

What can I do to make a difference in this world where pain is passed down

like an old relic that remains up on the mantel, dusted weekly.

What do YOU say? I’m listening.

Further details