Page 6 - Litteratteur Redefining World December issue

Litterateur redefining world December 2020

MOTHER'S DAY

Jack Foley's Mother Juanita
Teriolo (later shortened to
Terio): 1898-1964.
Many, many years after his mother's death, Jack Foley wrote this poem about their relationship

Jack, Born August 9,
1940 (a Leo), Fitkin
Hospital, Neptune, New
Jersey.

can I remember the warmth and forgive her the beatings
can I allow for the clear narcissism in her affection
and remember the affection

what had she done except me
I was perhaps her only accomplishment
and look how that ended: in tears and anger

the love she felt came crashing down upon us both
can I forgive myself the anger and egotism of adolescence
can I weep for her as a lonely being

whose life was never satisfactory
and who looked to me perhaps as her redemption
"This is my son," she said to a nurse on her deathbed in the hospital,

"ain't he something." there was a pause and she added quietly,
"Oh, he don't care."
she died with the horrible thought that she was going to hell.

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