My mother had
A garden
She tended it in old deck shoes covered in mud
Supervising her rows in cut offs and a canary bright halter top
The family dog trotted dutifully behind her down the rows of beans
I watched on, head swiveling, eyes trailing her like flowers nodding toward the sun
My mother had
A 1966 Volkswagen convertible
Purchased after years of saved paychecks
It shined like the first light at sunrise
And took her on adventures into the sunset
Until it rusted sulfur into retirement
My mother had
Aspirations
In full blossom they mimicked my father’s favorite yellow roses
Thorns pricked slender fingers reminding her of promises un-kept
Withered to dry on the stalk
Their fragrant potpourri drifting away in the breeze
My mother had
A honey-locked only child
Whose blue-green eyes sparkled with sunbeams
Aging into giggle cemented Crows Feet
Furrowed in her comprehending disbelief when told:
“If I knew you would turn out this way, we never would have had you.”
My mother had
Expectations
Dried coffee stains on guarded letters left to mold in an heirloom trunk
Tarnished charm secured in a box secreted on a top closet shelf
Smiles sealed upon Polaroids aged into sepia
Memories of a golden time gone
My mother had
A garden where she
cultivated her wishes
fertilized with resentment
culled the wildflowers thinking them ragweed
and so, none of them came true.
Author: Shelli Rottschafer
S.L. Rottschafer completed her doctorate from the University of New Mexico in Latin American Contemporary Literature (2005). Since 2006, Rottschafer has taught at Aquinas College. She is an Associate Professor of Spanish within the Department of World Languages and an Instructor in the Inquiry and Expression Program. She teaches Spanish Language, Latinx Literature, Film and Gender Studies, and First-Year Student Eco-composition at the College level.
Rottschafer has published across genres in The Journal of Literature and Art Studies and Border-Lines Journal (University of Nevada, Reno). She also has a collaborative project appearing in Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents: Reading, Writing, and Making a Difference, (Routledge Press). Her Creative Nonfiction pieces “Coyote Amidst the Sunflowers”, “The Sidekick”, “Dot Your I’s with a Heart” have been published in Wanderlust Journal of Travel Essays www.wanderlust-journal.com. She is a member of Michigan Writers.
Rottschafer writes Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, and Fictional Narrative. She is an outdoor enthusiast and can be found running with her black Labrador-mix along the Lake Michigan beaches. Or, during the colder months, the San Juan Mountains beckon her winters.
Here’s to the journey, walk in beauty.
