{"id":8139,"date":"2015-04-15T20:22:15","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T20:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=8139"},"modified":"2015-04-16T01:56:49","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T01:56:49","slug":"guest-post-bonnie-j-toomey-mother-of-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2015\/04\/guest-post-bonnie-j-toomey-mother-of-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Bonnie J. Toomey, “Mother of You”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mother of You<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am the goddess of lasagna,<\/p>\n

says my son. I think about this<\/p>\n

as I layer the marinara<\/p>\n

and ricotta over sheets of noodle,<\/p>\n

hopeful I\u2019m able to live up to his praise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what makes me look up,<\/p>\n

peripheral vision, perhaps some womb-like instinct,<\/p>\n

the pull between two places in proximity –<\/p>\n

But the forms are there in the open,<\/p>\n

white-chested dancers, tawny,<\/p>\n

sloping necks, intent on food.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I leave the wooden spoon soaked in sauce,<\/p>\n

fixate on the small herd.<\/p>\n

Sliding into the chair I lean in close<\/p>\n

to the window,<\/p>\n

hands coming to rest on my damp-aproned lap.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The creatures tug at last year\u2019s grass,<\/p>\n

black velvet muzzles forage,<\/p>\n

and the rituals of winter\u2019s kitchen are quiet but for the<\/p>\n

collected and layered impressions they\u2019ve made,<\/p>\n

rising like old friends from the dusty mullion.<\/p>\n

The animals lift their heads,<\/p>\n

pause with statuesque stares,<\/p>\n

scenting, ears calculating\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do they stay warm out there?<\/p>\n

Will they survive? When did you become a man?<\/p>\n

A pebble drops into some vernal pool,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

concentric ripple through Spring\u2019s earth<\/p>\n

washes up and laps over this kitchen floor.<\/p>\n

And the lissome figures spring into space,<\/p>\n

ebb past the deep thickets and deeper,<\/p>\n

bodies disappear into the woods<\/p>\n

that protect and swallow up at the same time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The distant rasp of tires mash<\/p>\n

and push closer through gravel and mud –<\/p>\n

You have arrived. \u00a0I run to the door.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 Bonnie J. Toomey, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Blogger, essayist, and columnist, Bonnie Toomey<\/strong> ruminates myriad issues facing families today. When she\u2019s not delving into her graduate studies and teaching writing at Plymouth State University, she\u2019s whispering poems into her grandson\u2019s ears. Her limns are in The Penwood Review<\/strong><\/em> and The Bay State Echo<\/strong><\/em>. Her essays, op-eds, and feature articles have appeared in Parenting New Hampshire<\/strong><\/em> and Baystateparent Magazine<\/strong><\/em>, and are published weekly in the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Hindsight \u00a9 Ellen Wade Beals, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thanks to Bonnie J. Toomey for letting me share her work.<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mother of You   I am the goddess of lasagna, says my son. I think about this as I layer the marinara and ricotta over sheets of noodle, hopeful I\u2019m able to live up to his praise.   I don\u2019t know what makes me look up, peripheral vision, perhaps some womb-like instinct, the pull between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18,60,2511,2512,1736,12,2520,2513,2519,2518,2517,2514,2516,13,2515,7,16,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-8139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-anthology","8":"tag-appreciation","9":"tag-bonnie-j-toomey","10":"tag-bonnie-toomey","11":"tag-deer","12":"tag-ellen-wade-beals","13":"tag-empty-nest","14":"tag-fitchburg-sentinel-enterprise","15":"tag-letting-go","16":"tag-mother-and-child","17":"tag-mother-and-son","18":"tag-mother-of-you","19":"tag-motherhood","20":"tag-poetry","21":"tag-reflection","22":"tag-solace","23":"tag-solace-in-so-many-words","24":"tag-weighed-words","25":"entry","26":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8139"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8153,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8139\/revisions\/8153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}