ASH*

For Gordon



How do you throw
your mother into the sea?

How do you scale the damp
craggy rocks, reach into the bag, pull out the

rough ash & throw
your mother into the sea?

This is your source, the ash that you
sprang from, that grew you,

bore you, bathed & held you

beat you, cursed you
--caused you to hate her--desperate

to mold you (into what?)
What did you become?

What is your real name?

Middle aged father, brother
of brothers, standing alone

at the edge of the earth
holding the ash of his mother

--what is your next move?
How do you let go?

How do you throw
your mother into the sea?

Joan Dobbie
2006

*Appears in Verseweavers OSPA Anthology of Prize-winning Poems, 2007