On Mothers

I’m told that today is mother’s day.

As though one day a year is enough

To praise not just my mother

But all mothers.

Mother’s day.

What a lame concept.

As though women are just mothers.

My mother is more than that.

Mother’s day.

What capitalist patriarchal hogwash.

If society cherishes mothers so much,

Why are they not extolled?

Sure, in Christianity,

Mary is the Mother of God.

Blessed among women.

And what of the women who are not mothers?

Do we forget them?

Are they unintelligible?

Only to society.

I give thanks almost daily for my mothers.

Not just the woman who birthed me.

But her mother. And my father’s.

And all the way back.

They are not my only mothers.

I am the daughter of every woman

Who had to fight to be heard.

Who was force-fed in prison

For wanting to vote.

Who was forced behind a man

Even when her ideas

And discoveries

Saved us all.

I stand on the shoulders of all womankind.

And I try to pull my sisters up with me.

That we may rise.