Damn the Purple Cows

The Love of Learning

has paved my way

my mother brushed my hair

the hairbrush hung from a chain

a weak attempt

to not lose something

in this house of Chaos

six children spilling from the walls

Her voice was

far from melodic

her knowledge burned me

so early in the morning

  "I never saw a purple cow"

as her calloused hands ran

through tangled knots 

  "I never hope to see one"

I spit out my toothpaste

  "But I can tell you anyhow"

I rolled my eyes

as I joined in

  "I'd rather see than be one"

My mother was fueled by

a deep love for God, her children, writing and two cups of coffee

with entirely too much sugar

Diabetes Disregarded.

Her hands laid open

she loved relentlessly

working the land

pounding the keyboard

holding them back

from a husband and father

so often absent

She racked up

Hundreds

in late fees

the stuffy librarian

glaring at our new stack of books

higher than my head

taught me to see

not merely to read

I never saw a purple cow

but I've seen Life

lowered into the ground

siblings brought to their knees

trembling on the fertile earth

I've brushed my hair

looked in the mirror

saw her dark eyes

reflcted there

and danced around conversations

I've raised myself

by a memory

burning as bright

as her voice did in mornings,

pounded at the keyboard

worked the land

held back from a father

ever so absent

and I've seen

and I've seen.