Poetry by Joey Connolly
MOTHER’S DAY is EVERYDAY YEAR ROUND
(a trilogy of sonnets from May 2017)
A Sonnet For My Mother
Loving thoughts of my mother surfaced earlier this week
a pen and notebook paper helped me get them off my chest
I wrote them down and read them, a need to plainly speak
about our beloved mother all of us children feel blessed
From baby bottles to breakfast, lunch, and big dinner plate
her home cooked food, I’ve overeaten it must be confessed
beef stew, scalloped potatoes, cottage pudding — tasted great
All five of us washed for church, shoes shined, shirts pressed
at night prayer to our guardian angels and family with love
teeth brushed, into pajamas, then into bed for a night of rest
she tucked us all in with care while looking down from above
All her virtues and daily sacrifices are hard to be assessed
qualities you didn’t observe you could easily have guessed
understanding that my mother and yours did their very best.
MOTHERS DESERVE MORE THAN ONE POEM
Mothers — every single child in the whole wide world had one
matrimonial bonds gave us Dads who made daughters and sons
my mother’s C-sections gave me two brothers and two sisters
she worked her fingers to the bone until her hands got blisters.
Mothers — they too had mothers, fathers, and grandparents as
well, many of them have gone up to heaven or are resting for a
spell. Mothers, stepmothers, some of us have had more than one
in some cases death, divorce, remarriage, even some on the run.
Mothers — we had one biological one from our very first breath
who nursed, clothed, fed, taught, reared, and loved us all till death
they got us off to church on time, to sports events, and to school
our first preachers, our teachers of basics and the Golden Rule.
Mothers — our wives, significant others, partners or us are now
living proof to all us children that life can be both hard and fun.
MOTHERS DESERVE POEMS of EVERLASTING LOVE
Mothers — where would we be without them
lessons from Mother Mary’s baby in Bethlehem
Mothers — unpaid years of cooking and mopping floors
hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, non-stop household chores
Mothers — dealing with kids, fights, Dads coming home drunk
changing many messy poopy baby diapers that truly stunk
Mothers — sewing some of our older brothers’ clothes to fit us
soothing our crying when siblings or childhood friends hit us
Mothers — finding ingredients for a homemade birthday cake
taking us all for a dip in the ocean, a farm pond, or lake
Mothers — some are gone now, straight into heaven above
gone but not forgotten and deserving our everlasting love.
Joey “Pepe Batbon” Connolly is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is the Poet Laureate of Tinian and enjoys stargazing.
