O Lake of the Ozarks
So much a part
of my formation,
what if I told you
that when I stare into
your waters I can see
a lady's face looking back up at me?
I confess, now, that I made that up.
But, if
I saw a lady's face,
she'd be a conglomerate of
ghosts and muses,
living and dead.
Tangled raven hair
heartsick eyes she'd bear
witness to Mimi's sadness. Then, she shifts;
a bowl-cut hair-cut in dirty blonde: a girl-
turned-woman far too soon.
She'd be Medusa - tendrils turned serpentine,
Aphrodite, solid yet crumbling; beauty
sinking. sinking. sinking.
She'd be the Virgin Mary...
but I won't tell anyone around here.
They'd either snicker at the 'Virgin'
part, or resent my suggesting
a Roman Catholic icon has anything to do
with their midwestern Baptist imagination.
She'd be a scraggly blonde-headed
kid; scared and wide-eyed,
with banged-up knees if you could see them.
And then there's more-
For if I look just long enough
at the waters
I see my mother. Tough,
and getting tougher
as she continues to navigate
this Ozark family.
So, O Lake
of Mystery,
Forgive me if
in my memory
I fail to separate
just where your waters begin
and my family story ends.
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Kendra! This is beautiful. I don't even know where to begin. I love the references to Medusa, to the Virgin Mary -- the description of her hair, cut like yours when you were young; made a woman too soon -- how if you look at the waters you see your mother; how you reference religion, and tie it in with ancient mythology, and family, and feminism.
ReplyDeleteI really love this. I'm not being superfulous. I think it's amazing.