• Home
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Links
  • MER Journal
    • Latest Issue
    • Back Issues
    • Subscribe to MER!
  • MER Online
    • MER Quarterly
    • MER Literary Folios
    • Poetry
    • Fiction
    • Creative Prose
    • Essay
    • Interviews
    • Book Reviews
    • Craft
      • Authors’ Notes
    • Art Gallery
      • Special – Hybrids
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
      • MER 18 Virtual Reading – Voices From HOME
    • Currents
      • Announcements
      • Highlights
  • Shop
    • All Issues
    • One Year Subscription
    • Two Year Subscription
  • Submit
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Facebook Twitter Instagram
MER – Mom Egg Review
  • Home
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Links
  • MER Journal
    • Latest Issue
    • Back Issues
    • Subscribe to MER!
  • MER Online
    • MER Quarterly
    • MER Literary Folios
    • Poetry
    • Fiction
    • Creative Prose
    • Essay
    • Interviews
    • Book Reviews
    • Craft
      • Authors’ Notes
    • Art Gallery
      • Special – Hybrids
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
      • MER 18 Virtual Reading – Voices From HOME
    • Currents
      • Announcements
      • Highlights
  • Shop
    • All Issues
    • One Year Subscription
    • Two Year Subscription
  • Submit
MER – Mom Egg Review
You are at:Home»MER VOX»Poetry»Nicole Brooks – Poetry

Nicole Brooks – Poetry

0
By Mom Egg Review on December 14, 2022 Poetry

Nicole Brooks

 

The Mother Speaks

I shrink to a diamond
My daughter palms. I’m squat
As the littlest Russian doll.

She relishes my dispersion
Of light, holds me to the
Morning sun. Secures me

In a golden ring’s claws,
Bands her broken love
Vein, marrying my pain. I

Weigh on her hand. She
Springs me from the prongs,
Clicks me into a locket

Worn against her chest.
It is too much.
She hot glues me

To a magnet. A day of
Holding coupons
Fast to the fridge —

She sees it is wrong.
Places me in the Black
Forest cuckoo clock.

Wooden tick until the
Caw. Her friends question
Her cradling the carved

Time piece, swaddled
In a sweater or scarf. She
Sings dear mother, dear

Mother. A steady mark.
Again she sets me free,
Forgets me

Around the house like
Keys. I offer her heat,
I separate white light

Into spectrum. She tucks
Me under the bed sheet.
I leave marbled bruise

Trails on her breasts,
Knees, in her thrashing
Against me. Dawn finds her

Digging in the tangle.
In a cold rain she throws me
Down the well. Empty

Clatter. From here
I tell you this story.
I’ve done it. I’m clear.

 

Back to Mother Folk

Nicole Brooks is a writer and editor in Lafayette, Indiana. Her poems have appeared in Minola Review, The Indianapolis Review, Barren Magazine, and Anti-Heroin Chic. She earned her MFA in poetry from Butler University, and served as poetry editor of Booth. Read more at nicolekbrooks.com.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleSusan Calvillo – Poetry
Next Article Lisa Ampleman – Poetry

Comments are closed.

Recent VOX Posts
February 1, 2023

Poem of the Month – February 2023

January 14, 2023

Judgment

January 14, 2023

Blair Hurley – Breastfeeding and the Early Sacrifices of Motherhood

January 14, 2023

Maram Al-Masri – Poetry

January 14, 2023

Cristi Ackerman Wells- My Mother

January 14, 2023

Starr Davis – Strange Fruits

January 14, 2023

Elīna Eihmane – Night Mommy

January 14, 2023

Heather Lanier – Origin Story with Porcelain Duck

January 14, 2023

Cynthia Neely – A Sturdy Well Built Home

January 14, 2023

Dzvinia Orlowsky – Our Dolls Were Naked

January 14, 2023

Donna Peizer – The Haircut

January 14, 2023

Sally Quon – Bad Mom

January 14, 2023

Lisa Taylor – Epiphany

December 31, 2022

Poem of the Month – January 2023

December 14, 2022

Lisa Ampleman – Poetry

Archives
Copyright © 2022 MER and Mom Egg Review
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Submit
  • Contact

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.