Ode to My Mother
By Luisa Matarazzo
I want to go back to 1947.
Tell my mother, It’s OK, she was
too tired with seven kids
to never have sung me a lullaby,
Never went to a PTA meeting.
Never signed my report cards.
When my second-grade teacher
called me a Mexican jumping bean
and wrote on my report card,
“Does Luisa have coffee in the morning?”
Sister Mary wrote back.
No, she does not, and signed your name.
It’s OK Sister Mary had to sign your name,
because you could not read the words.
It wasn’t long before I learned
to sign my own report cards
with your curlicue name at the bottom.
It’s OK, Ma,
I turned out all right.
Luisa Matarazzo is a seasonal resident of the Island.
Poets with a connection to Martha’s Vineyard are encouraged to submit poems to community@mvtimes.com. Please include a two- to three-sentence bio.
