Claire Scott

  Ghost of My Mother

I see her everywhere
	my mother
		dead for ten years

today I saw her at Safeway
	stuffing candy in her pockets
		licking chocolate lips		

I saw her  weaving down the street
	whacking strangers with
		bags of groceries 
	
tonight she sits at my kitchen table
	a petulant shade
		swigging cheap scotch 

eyeing me critically
	too much saffron
		not enough salt
	
I conjure her everywhere
	complaining I never visited
		her at Harbor Care	

no cards at Christmas
	no cleaning her dentures
		such a selfish daughter

deserves to rot in hell
	 
but you taught me mother
	with your stinging slaps
		and razor tongue

you taught me with your unlove	

Claire Scott is an award winning poet who has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize. Her work has been accepted by the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Healing Muse and Vine Leaves Literary Journal among others. Her first book of poetry, Waiting to be Called, was published in 2015. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry. Claire Scott is an award winning poet who has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize. Her work has been accepted by the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Healing Muse and Vine Leaves Literary Journal among others. Her first book of poetry, Waiting to be Called, was published in 2015. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.