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POETRY

Mother May I
by Cati Porter

Remember that game – you
standing in for mother, and we,
ducks in a row for you to pick
on, pick out, one by one, commanding
Take two baby steps forward, or
Take two giant steps back. You
didn't always answer Yes you may.
Sometimes you'd say No. If I forgot
to ask Mother, May I? back to
the beginning I'd go, all my obedience
for nothing.
I'm tired of asking
for your permission. Why should I,
now that I'm a bona-fide grown-up?
I suppose I must ask because so much
of my story is your story, so much
of what I call mine is yours. So, I ask,
out of respect, Mother, May I?, but I do
not wait. I want to play Mother now.

Cati Porter is a poet, reviewer, and editor of Poemeleon: A Journal of Poetry. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming from kaleidowhirl, Literary Mama, MotherVerse, Poetry Midwest, Poetry Southeast, and in the anthologies White Ink: Poems on Mothers and Mothering (Demeter Press), Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel—Second Floor (No Tell Books), and Letters to the World (Red Hen Press). She lives in Riverside, California, with her husband and two young sons. You may read more of her poetry here and here.