Mother Sky (465 words) - Writers Forum

Arin · 07-03-2006, 12:58 AM

Something I just kind of whipped up. Have a go at it, please. I'd appreciate your comments.

Mother Sky

Twenty-five years on the reservation, from birth till present, and I still can’t believe how big the sky is. The wide, wide sky that just opens up its arms for me every day. I like to tilt my chin up and spread my own arms out and feel its softness. I am its friend, its cousin, its sister, its daughter. I need it to know myself.

My mother had me when she was eighteen and named me Emily because it was the prettiest name she could think of. I don’t know who my father is. She said it would be best if I didn’t. And I’ve looked at all the faces on the reservation, searching the eyes and the cheeks and the chins, the curves of the noses, the slopes of the foreheads…all in vain because when I think of someone man it might be, I can’t believe it and quickly shake the thought from my mind. I look, but I really don’t want to know. It would be too disruptive to find out --- I would have to shape myself around a whole new idea.

I am already taking on a new shape; for my body is curving outwards slowly, my skin stretching little by little, and a person is growing little by little to fill that space. And now this person and I are forever connected, bound by our bodies now and later…who knows? Something I hope will be wondrous beyond all imagining.

Two months ago I got a call. Andrew, my boyfriend, the father of this child, died in a drunk driving accident. They came too late. They always come too late. Our land is pockmarked by all the times they’ve come too late. I’ve always known a friend of a friend who has died. Now I sit at my kitchen table, in the house I bought for myself a year ago, clench my fists and try to whisper away the pain. But it’s always there, a roar in my ears, a pressure on my spine, a bitter taste in my mouth.

I am left alone with this wide blue sky. I have a baby to birth, to keep, to raise. I am alone like my mother, but she stayed with it. She didn’t collapse one day and decide to not wake up. She would say, I have a life to live, moments to treasure, a daughter to love, and that would be enough.

Will it be enough? Is that what I am made of as well? Is that who I am? I am human, woman, daughter, sister, friend, cousin, American, Dakota…mother. Mother, mother, mother. Mother to the earth, mother to the sky…the sky and I now join hands in our common duty and I know it is enough.

sanctuary · 07-03-2006, 01:02 AM

wow. I'm at a loss for words. I loved it because it pulled at something inside me, something all women can connect with.

faeriedanzer19 · 07-03-2006, 01:07 AM

wow. i really thought that was beautiful. there's something about the ease and flow of your writing that is captivating.

newwriter19 · 07-03-2006, 01:33 AM

wow that was an amazing story, i loved the wording you used

Arin · 07-03-2006, 02:06 PM

Thanks so much for your comments. I appreciate it.

RachelA · 07-06-2006, 12:06 AM

This is a good piece of writing. It has a lovely style and engages the reader.

Hakeem · 07-06-2006, 10:43 AM

It is brilliant.. I liked it very much!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arin

Two months ago I got a call. Andrew, my boyfriend, the father of this child, died in a drunk driving accident. They came too late. They always come too late. Our land is pockmarked by all the times they’ve come too late. I’ve always known a friend of a friend who has died. Now I sit at my kitchen table, in the house I bought for myself a year ago, clench my fists and try to whisper away the pain. But it’s always there, a roar in my ears, a pressure on my spine, a bitter taste in my mouth

This is my favourite part. Arin you write beautifully.

Arin · 07-06-2006, 08:30 PM

Once again, thanks so much everyone for your comments.