For Mommy, On The Anniversary Of Her Death

I was 16 and away for the summer 

When I found out about women's liberation 

From my first boyfriend, a 19 year old Marxist, Nigel. 

The moment I saw my first feminist flyer,  

I thought, 

This is for me. 

The second thing was, 

I can't wait to tell my mother! 

This is going to change her life! 

She hates her marriage

She hates cooking and cleaning

She hates her children, sometimes.

Now she can be free! 

But she died about a week later, 

while I was still away,

long before email and texting and Zoom.

So I never told her about my discovery. 

I always thought that if she'd just lived until I got home 

Feminism would have saved her. 

Probably not. 

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