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Link: http://www.adelgorgy.com/

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Cross-Cultural Communications Art & Poetry Series Broadside

 

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My Daughter at 14, Christmas Dance

Panic in your face, you write questions

to ask him. When he arrives,

you are serene, your fear

unbetrayed. How unlike me you are.

 

 

After the dance,

I see your happiness; he holds

your hand. Though you barely speak,

your body pulses messages I can read

 

 

all too well. He kisses you goodnight,

his body moving toward yours, and yours

responding. I am frightened, guard my

tongue for fear my mother will pop out

 

 

of my mouth. "He is not shy," I say. You giggle,

a little girl again, but you tell me he

kissed you on the dance floor. "Once?"

I ask. "No, a lot."

 

 

We ride through rain-shining 1 a.m.

streets. I bite back words which long

to be said, knowing I must not shatter your

moment, fragile as a spun-glass bird,

 

 

you, the moment, poised on the edge of

flight, and I, on the ground, afraid.

 

--Maria Mazziotti Gillan

 

Copyright © 1995

 

Link: http://www.mariagillan.com/