I am a woman who is a mother

this mother who is a woman

this woman who has two daughters

two daughters who are from this woman’s womb

daughters who like this woman are wayward and independent

independent enough to live   to live  to live

far from home  far from a mother’s love

a love that is never far  never too far

never far at all

and this woman

who is mother

of two daughters

who live in Paris & Brussels

Brussels and Paris where the history

of Ayiti and the Congo

Ruanda-Urundi, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Benin, Niger, Chad, Republic of the Congo), the east African coastal enclave of Djibouti have felt the lash  have been forced to lick their own blood

and terror    terror  terror

is a new word only reserved for some

often not those who have been terrorized

land and people and resources exploited

but this is not a quarrel with history

history that is often written by the victorious

history filtered through  lens of guns and bible

this is not a quarrel with this history

this is about a mother with two daughters

daughters living in the mouth of terror

who must be safe

two daughters safe

safe as a mother’s love