Lecture from the deaf

She is an old woman, she has a mirror, she
knows this

given name kept in a small pocket of her purse,
brought out only for very special visits

not having the time when she was young to bear
and raise children, she hewed them out of balsa
trees (still alive), cured them in lye, plated
them with tin and pounded them until they had
gained enough form to run away

two of her fifty descendants crowned beauties makes

no testament to some youthful grace (inner or
outer) now hidden by age

it came from strong arms and dead on accuracy
with a hammer, and a christian admiration of pain

but she had never heard of acid rain, so now she
must sit and watch her children melt away, the
tin dissolves and the balsa quickly rots

if she had another chance she might have tried
to make ones that loved her too, but she might
have failed, it was hard enough just making them good.

James Spyker
Toronto ON