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my niece reminds me
of my mother--it's a
little bit eerie, but maybe
that's just me. it's something
in the eyes, of course, a look
that seems to cut across time.
my mother refused to die
until little emma was born.
my sister had a hard time,
but in the end it was all right.
after that, my mother went
downhill pretty quick, but
she got to hold the baby
and share with her something
of her smile, the look in her eyes.
one has to wonder just what is
transmitted and how. images repeat, what we think of as ourselves
are just fragments of information,
strings of a genetic sequence.
it just so happens that emma
got a little bit of my mother's eyes.
and smile. and maybe the jawline.
was it borne in blood and bone?
or did it have something to do
with the time they spent together,
the two months my mother held her
granddaughter, smiling, somehow
conveying aspects of her person? passing the torch, subtle
imprinting... |
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