One Time, One Day
between Davie | and Roberta
I asked my mom | why she persisted,
kept on having | baby after baby.
She looked
at me, at a spot | between my eyes,
blinking like I had | suddenly fallen
crazy. She paused | before answering
as if
to confide would | legitimize my fears.
She drew a deep | breath, leaned against
the chair. I touched | her hand and I thought
she might
cry. Instead she put | baby Davie in my arms.
Pattyn, she said, | it's a woman's role.
I decided if it was | my role, I'd rather
disappear.
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I asked my mom | why she persisted,
kept on having | baby after baby.
She looked
at me, at a spot | between my eyes,
blinking like I had | suddenly fallen
crazy. She paused | before answering
as if
to confide would | legitimize my fears.
She drew a deep | breath, leaned against
the chair. I touched | her hand and I thought
she might
cry. Instead she put | baby Davie in my arms.
Pattyn, she said, | it's a woman's role.
I decided if it was | my role, I'd rather
disappear.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I attempted to keep the visual integrity of this intact, but this thing won't let me. The vertical lines are supposed to be spaces. It's set up to represent her eyes and the spot between them where her mother is looking. Use your imagination.
I've had similar conversations with my own mother. Of course, since I'm her only child, these conversations were really not similar at all. Her sister, however, has 12 children. And once when I asked her why, she said essentially the same thing Pattyn's mother did... It's a woman's role.
I've had similar conversations with my own mother. Of course, since I'm her only child, these conversations were really not similar at all. Her sister, however, has 12 children. And once when I asked her why, she said essentially the same thing Pattyn's mother did... It's a woman's role.
