swimming against the tide
a young woman
my mother
a union rep at the cotton mill
and then a young wife
reading of natural childbirth
and of breastfeeding
from a borrowed book
and so we her children
swam to the surface
to nestle and suck at her breast
near death in her undershirt and depends
climbing onto the long bureau
because she "simply had to lie down"
she carried some of that vitality
and simple grace of youth
complete with long legs, willowy frame
that I had only seen in photos
young, in a swimsuit on the beach
my god, she was lovely
