Marla
Deschenes has been writing poetry since she was 7 years old. Now 34,
the topics have changed but her love of poetry still remains. Marla
lives in Enfield, CT, with her husband, her stepkids, and her two
beloved dogs, writing poetry whenever she can. The rest of her time is
spent trying to hide her tattoos enough to make a living in corporate
America. This poem gives us a look at a growing-up daughter from the
vantage point of a grown-up mother (step perspective seems to enhance
the maternal here). We share the bright hopes tinged with fear of the
knowing one who looks out across time to the future of an unknowing
little girl.
Laundry 101
By Marla Deschenes
My stepdaughter’s jeans
Are a lesson in opposites.
The label proclaims
Femininity extreme
But the jeans in my hands are covered in dirt.
Rocks fill the pockets.
They are torn from being way too long.
There are stains in impossible places
And yet
As I rub detergent into every gritty blemish
On those chic
Flared
Sexualizing
Jeans for young girls,
I laugh inside.
Because those jeans
Are so much like mine
Trying to look ok and normal and
Just fit in and yet
The life I lead
Leaves me
Stained
Gritty
And
Torn.
As I set aside the jeans to let the soap soak in
My heart speaks volumes to the universe about
How I hope you will never lose
The part of you
That still wants to roll in the dirt and outdo the boys
That your heart will stay
Open
And how maybe someday you will realize
How much of myself I have put into
Taking care
Of
You.
This is great, Marla. I love the thread of child, woman, parent.