Lucky Comments

Piece of great elegance

Her eyelids fluttered as I soaped and rinsed her belly and her chest, the sorry ruin of her flanks... a very fine poem , it touched me about what u wrote about the mother. thanku dear poet.

Very poignant poem that brings to fore the impact of aging in life. Thanks.

The precious bondage and most intimate relationship of a child and mother marvelously unfolded. Thanks for sharing it here.

No mother in her right mind abandons her child. We must love our mothers. Not all are mothers but everyone is a son or daughter.........

This is not a way a mother should be treated. She is soft and lovely when old and must be treated kindly. Nice poem.

To be able to peel away all the raw emotion to find the words that express all the complex layers of feeling with such touching, gentle and perverse joy is an neigh on miraculous. To step outside of oneself to see the self with such objective, crystal rationality, and then to come up with the words to do that justice is a humbling high-wire act over an abyss of blackness and beauty that I am nearly left speechless myself. Wow.

a poem of compassion and understanding and that ultimately we are all made from the same mould.

In any language. Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

This resonates so deeply with me and my relationship with my mother. I never expected someone to be willing to reveal the darkened corners of the soul and speak on such a controversial feeling. To those in avid and immediate defense of the mother, consider that the speaker's feeling had to come from SOMEWHERE and that amount of pain and willingness for revenge cannot be wholly unfounded. The speaker's amount of humility and care necessary to even care for this woman who has obviously hurt him in some unspoken way is admirable, despite his obvious resentment. The ice cream resolution was truly a touching moment that I pray I will grow the heart to want to experience. Praise to Tony Hoagland for his willingness and ability to encapsulate all raw aspects of the human experience in his poetry. It does not go unnoticed.

It IS sad. But also very real. Not all children have idyllic relationships with their oarents.. it gets very "real" when those parents age and are vulnerable. Not all children are motivated by love.. but moreso a desire to reclaim the power they feel wad stripped from them so long ago as well as a desire to be " good enough". Beautifully exposed.

If God created humans, and God created language, then God created poetry. Perhaps this is the way that God has chosen to deal with 'such horrific feelings.'

I disagree. There is nothing that poetry cannot express, even if its a silent animosity. Well done.