Her Mother
I’m at it again
35 years later
folding and flattening
little shirts and tiny
little socks, all of it
fitting in the palm
of my hand Look! if what
they say is true,
and the heart is
as big as your fist
Look! Look! a tiny beating
heart underneath
a tiny shirt, something
that floored me
when her mother
was born, her mother
who is sleeping upstairs,
her breasts making
milk so that her little one
can puke and piss
and shit creating more
laundry, more sudsy
water, more wonder
and endless cycles
Nancy Botkin’s newest full-length collection of poems, The Next Infinity, was published by Broadstone Books. Her poetry has been widely published in journals such as Poetry East, december, Gyroscope Review, and Third Coast. She lives in South Bend, Ind