POET

Listen to the Mother
By M. E. Wood

My energy was meant to comfort you when you felt lonely,
confused or just didn’t know what to do.

Everything you could possibly need to sustain yourselves
is available freely to you and your offspring.

My arms are strong enough to provide you with shelter
and warmth, yet you cast the needy out into the cold

The provision of food in abundance is available to all,
but it is given to the many and the few continue to starve.

My heart burns with the love, created for you but often
you turn away and leave me feeling used.

Unheard whispers flow into your ears with each gentle
caress, when you visit the mouth of my shores.

My children will regret the day they turned their
backs on the mother who gave them everything.

*published in Sol Magazine / June 2003
Honorable Mention (2003 Poet Laureate)

COMMENTS: Maureen Wood's eclectic style reveals the wealth of resources a world traveler can weave into her work. This talented poet has much to offer. Her penchant for unique words, as well as for asking the unanswerable and often trying to answer her own questions, brings a air of ever questing to her writing. Her poetry is acutely sensitive, no-holds-barred, to the point, and she helps us feel at home in the worlds she creates. A careful observer who makes use of internal rhyme and metaphorical images, Maureen does an excellent job of rendering this well-structured work.