This is not the poem
my birth mother meant to write
meant to tuck in my blanket
when I was handed over
to the adoption agency
meant to follow me
through childhood, youth,
adulthood, to be read
on the day my sons were born.
It would be a poem
that would be etched
deeply into my psyche
that would echo in my mind
during the quiet moments.
She never wrote that poem
or any poem and so
I am left to etch my psyche
with what I wish
she had written.