Mommie never forgot
the child inside
and
her own sophistication.
She was like classical music
from an intense single note
to a
cascading Chopin concerto with
a smile.
She was everything
with rhyme and reason to her children
and especially to her daughter.
We fell in love the way Melia
said Mommie… and there was
a statue before
there was exalted women’s liberation —
and Mommie was black and more beautiful
than the
world’s depicted Ma Donna’s
and, she lived in New Rochelle.
Mommie had her arms and smile around all of us
and
we were quite an unusual bunch
from the loins of power and poverty.
She was quiet spoken and discerning
she was provocative and worldly
she was insightful and concerned and
she was firmly alive in her own life and affairs.
Today we think about
powerful women
and the tools that make them such.
We think of
their raison d’etre
and
their big little things,
we think of
their poise and
little big things,
we think of
their intelligence,
bearing and
contributions,
we think of
their intentions
gifting, appetites to
nurturer,
vision
their creedal ideas
for the nation
and imaginations.
We make metaphors to
reflect their kindnesses
and their wisdom,
duty and strength
their tenacity
and dignity and we
never leave the grounds or porch
from adjectives
of Mommie.
And so…we will never forget
her sophistication
her connection
to the child-inside
because
She was classic
within our reach
in our muse
a kind of music
and the
ardor
of
our
smiles.
Memorial Service
Saturday, June 22, 2013 at 2 p.m. at St Simon’s Episcopal Church 135 Remington Ave New Rochelle NY
