Cassie Premo Steele’s most recent poem to appear here was “Today” (January 2017).
A particular problem
By Cassie Premo Steele
By Cassie Premo Steele
It’s a particular problem to have a mother
Who is a poet, a mother who is filled
With faith, or who climbs to her faith
In herself like the bump she saw rise
From the sidewalk that tripped her
In her path before the governor rose
To assist her. It’s a particular problem
That can’t be solved with medication
Or confession or a neurosurgeon because
Daughters, you have all our love, and pain
Is just something that comes with the
Package like cable channels you don’t
Want to watch but have to pay for
Anyway. We love you. That’s all we want
To say. Tune out. Tune in. Drop out. Drop
In. Anytime. We did it to our mothers
And your daughters will do it one day.
Unless. Unless. There are no words
For this. You must make your own way.
Wonderful poem, Cassie. Greatly enjoyed your reading at BIPF last May, too.