A Regular Mother

I have a little girl at home.
I kept her so nicely on little sandwiches,
little doll shoes,
skateboards, mittens and Raffi songs.
I sent her to school with a hug
and a lunch box.
"You are awesome!" I called.
I told her sincerely.

I am astounded by my Frankenstein creation.
"Do you know that I am your MOTHER?
There was nothing, and then there was YOU.
I made you. It is mindblowing. Really. Just think of it."
She looked up at me, and nodded.
She really didn't care where she came from.
She wanted to find the cat hiding under her bed.

I didn't add the most amazing part.
It is amazing because I am regular down to the very marrow.
My insides are beige, and slightly rotten.
I am not made of fairy wings and sincere prayer,
yet still, it happened.

It has happened six billion times
(just in the last century)
this business of adding people to the planet,
but is it always like THIS?

When she was born
I asked my mother,
"When does she stop feeling like a piece of me?"
"Never,"she said.
"No, I'm not talking symbolically, Mom. I mean
she feels like a piece of me...like an arm, or a kidney, on the outside of me."
"I know,"said my mother," and the answer is never."
"Weird,"I said.

I was trying to tell you about sending her to school.
I sent her to school, and another little girl there
doesn't like her.

My daughter reported this to me,
and I had to see it for myself.
How preposterous!
Not liking my daughter!
Show me the cold hard facts.

I approached this other little girl.
She was pretty.
She was clear.
She was totally unintimidated by me.

"You don't like my daughter?"I asked.
"No, I don't,"she told me. "None of my friends like her."
"None?" I gasped.
"No."
"Why?"
"She brags. Even if I wanted to play with her, my friends wouldn't. I can't make them like her."
"Did she do something mean to you?"
"No."
There was a chilling finality in her tone.
This little girl was telling me that Santa Claus was not coming to the ghetto; that chocolate makes me fat; that art and music are a waste of time; that it was time I wake up and realize that war is inevitable.

I rose up from my crouched stance to my full height.
"My daughter is awesome,"I said.
I told her sincerely.
"All she wants is to get along with you and your friends. Show kindness."

Show kindness.
I asked her to show kindness, like all I needed to do is ask for what I want
and it makes a speck of difference.
Hey! End addictions!
Feed the hungry!
Show kindness!

My magical power was used up
in creating a daughter.
I am regular down to the very marrow.