Mother's Day My Way

In the spirit of Mother's Day, I now present a poem that I wrote for my Mom. A static representation of love. I actually wrote it as a rap to Blackstar's Brown Skin Lady haha, it just came out better that way. So you can read it with a little impromptu Kweli-esq flow if you want to.

Happy Mother’s Day My Way

You’re the consoling consolidation

Of a family spread across multiple oceans.

You’re the chemical equation of a love potion

So potent that distance doesn’t make a difference.

We all know it and stay in high spirits,

Chivalrous, noble-minded and brave

Because that’s the definition of our name.

Where we came from and where we are

 Is one in the same.

Gallants overseas, overland, over time, over what?

Home is where we stand connected by

Networks of love. 

You’re the fibre optic cable, the satellite, the life line

The warm voice always coming through the phone line

And I’ve shown my love, one or two few many times,

But since it is mother’s day I’ll let it spill over these lines.

Thank you for

Facilitating, rehabilitating, making

A fire under my ass when I’m procrastinating.

Never letting me be the second best version of me

Certain to be the best work of art there could possibly be

With these supplies that I was given, now I’m living to fullest.

You asked for a poem so I swallowed my pride with the bit bullet

And spit out my fractured heart in words collecting on the page;

A placid puddle reflecting all the maturity of my age.

So I can say that you’ve always been there to hold my frail hand,

That I love you and I know you understand 

That you’re frustrating only because I know you’re always right

And sometimes we fight,

But it’s like flint and stone clashing to bring true knowledge to light

And right the wrong calculations I’ve made inside my moral compass

To prevent my freedom from breeding greediness and selfishness.

You help me realize I don’t know shit about poetry, I can improve

Because the love on the page falls short of the love I have for you.

That’s absolute, it’s maybe half of the truth at best

How can I capture a love existing in every single breath,

In every single word, in every sound that I’ve made or heard

Words shy away until the only thing that’s left is her.

My Mom.

So, as I travel around this earth

That you delivered to me from birth.

I ego trip on believing that I’m my own seeker first,

But then I wonder deeper

Can the student really ever surpass the teacher?

The one that

Spotted my lies and dotted my i’s so I can see

The one gave me this life assignment and checked my work regularly

So I could perfect it in my own way, aligned by what she had to say

But give it my own twist at every turn and eventually make the grade.  

Thank you for

Giving me life so I can breath

Providing opportunities

Even though you could see

The ones I squandered already.

Thank you for

Giving me praise so I love to learn

Steering me away from wrong turns

And giving me love so I could yearn

For another’s,

Whose love is just as good as my Mother’s

And if I’m lucky, I'll find it if I try

But, the bar is set pretty damn high

That’s the beauty in the art tryin.

So let the tests of unfair weather begin.

I’m ready and it’s true

That I owe it all to you.

I'm ready and it's true

That I owe it all to you.

That’s how I say

Happy Mother’s Day my way

To you.


From Jordan