A Desert for a Mother by Ashley Farley

to o   cold        my mother would wear her

snow      pants in the house,     l e  a   n   ing over the stove

Sylvia Plath was just

trying to keep warm. She would tell me that she

dreamt        about moving        to  (paradise). Where

it is 180 degrees.

(four years old) I would draw pictures of bright red

and orange flames        a homemade fire

(six years old) I got a text-book with photos               Kalahari, 

                        Sahara, Mojave, and

                            Sin:     ai, the names of her children.

(twenty years old) 

And I told her I wished I could        give her all the deserts in the world

Just to keep my mother warm.

Ashley Farley is a current undergrad studying English Literature at SUNY Brockport. She has hopes to work with Children's literature as a career. She enjoys traveling, crafting, hiking, and kayaking.