I Am Nothing Like My Mother
I am nothing like my mother.
My mother smells the scent of her day after day,
washes the ruby red lipstick off his collar week after week.
She waits alone most nights, the dawn as her only light.
Every morning he leaves;
Don’t wait up tonight is the passage she reads
off his lips.
She smiles a broken smile,
and waits,
hand and feet,
hand and feet,
she waits.
I am everything like my mother.
I wait for him,
feet and hand
feet and hand,
with that same broken smile my mother had years ago.
Every night he leaves
I wait alone, the moon as my only light.
I wash her deep red lipstick of his boxer briefs, week by week,
smell the scent of her day by day,
but today, now, I leave, because
I am nothing like my mother
My mother smells the scent of her day after day,
washes the ruby red lipstick off his collar week after week.
She waits alone most nights, the dawn as her only light.
Every morning he leaves;
Don’t wait up tonight is the passage she reads
off his lips.
She smiles a broken smile,
and waits,
hand and feet,
hand and feet,
she waits.
I am everything like my mother.
I wait for him,
feet and hand
feet and hand,
with that same broken smile my mother had years ago.
Every night he leaves
I wait alone, the moon as my only light.
I wash her deep red lipstick of his boxer briefs, week by week,
smell the scent of her day by day,
but today, now, I leave, because
I am nothing like my mother
Jasmine Spillman is currently a sophomore at Central Michigan University. She grew up in Detroit, Michigan as an only child. The piece "I am nothing like my mother" is about a young girl reflecting on her father’s infidelity against her mother. The speaker grows into a woman and sees that her husband is following the same trends as her father. In order to keep from becoming like her mother, the speaker leaves her lover.
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