For Poetry Friday I’m sharing Poems about Mothers and Daughters for Mother’s Day.
MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS
Mothers and daughters what ties them together?
Building bonds as sensitive as a feather.
Laughing and crying–sharing joy and sorrow,
years passing too quickly into tomorrow.
Daughters becoming mothers to their mothers,
balancing, listening, inside another.
Mothers always mothers to their daughters,
riding waves over a lifetime of waters.
Mothers and daughters, and daughters and mothers,
a bond worthy to build between each other . . .
©2017 Michelle Kogan
This next poem is by Eavan Boland, from her book A WOMAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY. I’m sorry to say that I couldn’t find it anywhere on line, (it’s a book from my personal library) so if you want to read it in entirety, stop by your library or purchase the book. Here is a bio-link to read more about Eavan Boland at the Poetry Foundation.
TALKING TO MY DAUGHTER LATE AT NIGHT
We have a tray, a pot of tea, a scone.
This is the hour
When one thing pours itself into another:
The gable of our house stored in shadow,
A spring planet bending ice
Into an absolute of light.
Your childhood ended years ago. There is
No path back to it, there is
No certainty I can find
The if or maybe that might remedy
An afternoon you walked up the hill
After school. In winter, in tears.
The fire smolders down into cinders.
Lilac shivers in the March dark.
If love is a civilization,
As I once hoped it was,
And you and I are its living citizens
And if our words
Are less than rules and more than remedies
As we speak, maybe
Someone escapes from a wounded morning
In a small classroom and finds
The world is not stern, after all. Paper birds
Are folded and fly off in the playground.
The Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted this week by Tara Reid at A Teaching Life, stop by for more poems.
Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, & Writing 
Oh, how delightful!!! 💖🐇💖🐇💖🐇
Thanks Trini, so glad you’re enjoying it! 🌻
My daughter is only 8, so our mother-daughter life is more about hair braiding, breakfast sharing, spelling quizzing and hugs before bed.
While I thought about my relationship with my daughter the poems for me focus on myself in the daughter role.
Yes, I understood. It just triggered for me thoughts about my mother-daughter relationship and what it’s like. Perhaps there is a poem there, wanting to come out. Your poems are lovely.
Thanks Brenda!
There was a poem there, thanks to you. https://friendlyfairytales.com/2017/05/12/happy-mothering-day/
Yay!!!!!
The relationship is special, and often unique to each, isn’t it? Thanks for sharing your perspective, Michelle along with Eavan’s.
Yes, as is the voice of a poet.
Both of these poems are lovely tributes to the bonds between mothers and daughters. I’m blessed to have both strong mothers (including in-laws and grandmothers) and a strong daughter!
Thanks Kay, sounds like you have a strong network !
My childhood ended long ago, but I still run to my mother (or telephone her, since we live farther away now) with happy news and sad stories, and pour my heart out to her, just as I always have. Mothers (and other loving female relatives) are truly some of our greatest treasures!
Sounds like you have a couple of strong bonds there Jane. Even though we may be miles apart if we keep putting the tinder in it keeps the warmth growing.
Enjoyed the poems and thinking about the special mother-daughter bond that defines us. This will be the fourth Mother’s Day since my mom passed away, and it’s become such a poignant holiday — missing her, yet celebrating who she was and everything she meant to us. Love the bunny painting too!
Hi Jamma, I’m glad you are remembering and celebrating your Mom. I lost my Dad this past fall. My dad was a banjo player too, he actually was my banjo teacher and loved Pete Seeger. Another reason your post was so meaningful to me.
Glad you like the bunnies!
This is the hour when one thing pours into another…so good!
Hi Kortney, each line flowed into the next so naturally. Thanks for stopping by!
Both poems say so much about the mother-daughter relationship in so many ways. Thanks for sharing, Michelle!
Thanks Matt!
I really like your mother-daughter poem, Michelle. I especially love these lines:
“Daughters becoming mothers to their mothers,
balancing, listening, inside another.”
I have experienced that. It’s a lifelong bond like no other.
Thanks Violet! Yes I agree with you it’s a relationship like no other.
The first stanza reminds me of my Mom. Thank you for sharing.
Yes, I can relate to that too! Thanks for coming by Jone.
Your poem is lovely, Michelle. I want to send it to my daughter who is about to have her daughter. I love the following lines.
Daughters becoming mothers to their mothers,
balancing, listening, inside another.
Would you like to send me the illustration you created for the spring gallery as a stand alone piece of art?
Hi Carol, thanks! Yes I can send it to you on it’s own, I don’t think there’s enough space there for words also.
Yes, do that then, Michelle. Thanks.
Oh, that third stanza in your poem. So much truth…
I think that life offers this up, Mary Lee, and then each of us makes of it what we can.
Thanks for this celebration of mothers and daughters, Michelle. There’s something so special about the mother-daughter bond, how it grows and changes over time—strength and fluidity at the same time. I feel so blessed that the bond I share with Miranda is as strong as the one I share with my own mother.
I’m happy that you share this bond Michelle, with these two very special individuals, it’s a unique relationship.
The years do pass so quickly, don’t they? I get a little panicky when I think about anything happening to my mother.
I thought “If love is a civilization,/As I once hoped it was,/And you and I are its living citizens” was a beautiful thought.
Yes, me too-Some rays of hope in there.
The woven nature of your poem is so true of parent/child relationships Michelle.
This line jumps out at me: This is the hour/ When one thing pours itself into another:
Thanks Laura! Isn’t that an incredible line, it’s as if she just plucked it from a tree . . .
Mothers and daughters – the bond is unique. Being a mom to two daughters, I take my responsibility to them very seriously. Beautiful poems and painting for Mother’s Day, Michelle. =)
Hi Bridget, Thanks. I think your daughters will gain from, and appreciate your involvement with them!