poems and photos honoring mom's 26th yartzeit

I'm making a vulnerable post today. 26 years ago my mom Lorrie passed. As part of my ongoing work Mom & Me, I've started writing my own poetry to pair with her poetry which I include in the project.

Sharing here 2 (in progress) poems. Paired with each poem is a double exposure from the Mom & Me project that includes her writing, and a photo that she took before I was born.

Light Touch:

light touched you

touched the film 

made your image in grain 

revealed on paper 

touched by light 

today 

your image in pixels 

touches mine 

made with a sensor touched

by light that touched me 

thanks to light 

we touch

you wrap around me

held and holding

a framed embrace

balancing forever and never

I will have to settle for that

-------------------------

And this second one is loosely titled Stars and Mycelium

elements forged from the immolation of a star 

swept through the expanse 

carried dust

that became

the spark in your eye

that spark (did it ever belong to you) 

now joins the forest 

far beneath the surface 

that carries footprints 

I press my fingers into damp soil 

to be closer to you

atoms that once made synapses 

carried thoughts between neurons

now part of a mycelial network

carry messages between trees 

far older than you ever were

when you were you