The Best Of...

Arianna Ortiz

Santa Monica, California
Applicant

"Poetry ought to have a mother as well as a father."

No one ever told me how to write
        a poem
But mamma was always there
She was big
She was loud
She couldn't cook
Worth a damn
But she was there
I watched her closely
I watched her choose
        work
        men
        work
And not California
And not the painting
She made of the cat or
The woman in Peru
Even with her doubts
She let me sing
        dance
        play
She was there
Believe me, I saw
No one ever told her any other way
I still don't know how to write
a poem
But the poem
         was
         always
         there