Love Child – A Poem by Lilli Reine

Submitted by Lilli Reine

’36 the year of gone with the wind
a scarlet moment
a tiny seed
and maude became
a sacred broken strand
lux laundry soap and big diaper pins
rolled down bobby socks and rolled up sleeves
one retracted promise of another’s design
life was love and love was fined
from a robin’s egg roadking
in her own scarlet show
she was no more
’44 the year of war gardens
maude became again
some elsewhere
and mother died here inside
legions of days she tilled and teared
she finally gave up, went on
2001 the year of mr. tito’s visit beyond

About the Poet

Lilli Reine’s laptop currently whirrs on a leather chair in Ohio, waiting to sprawl again on the sand of her native eastern shore. Early-years’ travels, an inter-racial marriage, and two decades of mentoring young women bolster her depository of thoughts and perspectives.