The mother like no other
stood
whisking eggs
with a disappointed gaze.
Sighing.
“This child I raised!
Never in my days!
Such peculiar ways.
Extraordinarily
ornery.
Scant ability
to do anything with facility.
At least a pleasing face would’ve saved grace.
Such a bright sister and
exemplary brothers!
If I had my druthers…
she’d be, at least a bit, like the others,
so I could kvell. I do it so well.”
Lisa Finder is a librarian at Hunter college/CUNY. She is a longtime resident of Inwood in New York City and is originally from Albany, New York. She started writing rhyming poetry in 2020.