Caren Krutsinger Poet Prose Poetry

Mothers Are Not All the Same

She always preached for them to be nice, but she never was herself.
She said “say kind things even if you do not mean it,” teaching them to lie.
They told her they would try, and she called them stupid.  
They learned to trust no one.
She said respect other people’s things but she did not respect them.

She brought men into the house, and they did not respect them either.
They beat them sometimes and called them “idiot, retard, and other names, 
They sometimes did worse things to them, but they had nowhere to run.
These children were learning at a fast rate how to not be a mother.

When they grew up, they all moved away, rarely coming back.
One time when they did, she had been shooting up so much,
She accidentally burned one of her newborn granddaughter’s faces
with a cigarette ash.  

Her children went after her, smacking and hitting.
She said “STOP!” but they could not, so she is now deceased.
They made a pact to never tell, and they never did.

The police looked around, saw the drug paraphernalia
And decided it was a drug deal go wrong.
Nothing was done, which may have been justice.
All mothers are not all the same.

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Michelle Faulkner January 13, 2019 at 4:09 PM I now know how lucky I am to have a mother who loved me, so many others did not. Caren Krutsinger January 14, 2019 at 7:59 AM And guess which ones I get to work with the most?

M. L. Kiser January 13, 2019 at 1:39 PM They certainly aren't; sad how some put their habit before their children. Well penned. Caren Krutsinger January 13, 2019 at 2:17 PM Thank you M.L. Luckily children when caught in time by a caring adult can eventually hear the "good things" about themselves and change their self talk. Research says for every demoralizing comment a child has heard about themselves, they have to hear 10,000 positive comments for them to eventually really HEAR it and believe maybe it is true. I give out so many compliments sometimes the teachers say "hers do not count". This is on them. And their children are listening, and thinking. So it is truly sad for them whether they know it or not.