My mother attempted to mother my sister and I,
On and off,
10 years of my life.
We looked up to her,
Not knowing how a good person should look or act,
Or how a mom should really be.
She tried to support us,
But it was hardly enough.
Her attempts failed.
She kept getting kicked out of jobs,
Staying out too late,
Or doing things my sister and I were unaware of.

She used to take us to scary places,
Like the bad areas of Camden.
She brought strange men home,
And trusted them with us right away.
She always looked horrendous from the things she did to herself;
They really took effect on her,
But we never knew the reason.

Back than,
We had no idea what was going right before our eyes.
But now that we’ve grown,
We know she wasn’t the best mother on the planet,
And we found out what made her look so haggard all the time;
The mixture of drugs and alcohol took effect on her, badly.
Those two things were more important to her,
Than her two babies,
And that was made obvious when she lost contact,
After my father took complete custody.
I bet you can find my mother a prisoner to drugs and alcohol,
Or walking the streets.