Poem
Jill Jones
MOTHER I AM WAITING NOW TO TELL YOU
MOTHER I AM WAITING NOW TO TELL YOU
MOTHER I AM WAITING NOW TO TELL YOU
Mother about the letters i never wrotethe sirens outside batter my heart
and the fact i don't eat enough food
reminding me i am hungry
all that heavy seductive stuff
in the nights of new traffic in dreams
and i do not understand your eyes
where there is so much blindness
the glare of your tenacity almost breathing
i am struck down at the window
i have prayed to be that strong — resisting also
the death squads are squealing in the backyards
but there is too much noise — two languages now
spray painting their names like manifestoes
like what you wanted me to be — like this
i don't like the sound my fear makes
and like someone else who has my voice
i talk to myself — begging that someone
who has my arms but speaks a different love
will remember the answer to the enigma
which you have lost the words for
i am waiting for them to tell me
i am waiting now to tell you
© 2002, Jill Jones
From: Screens Jets Heaven. New and Selected Poems
Publisher: Salt Publishing, Cambridge
From: Screens Jets Heaven. New and Selected Poems
Publisher: Salt Publishing, Cambridge
Poems
Poems of Jill Jones
Close
MOTHER I AM WAITING NOW TO TELL YOU
Mother about the letters i never wrotethe sirens outside batter my heart
and the fact i don't eat enough food
reminding me i am hungry
all that heavy seductive stuff
in the nights of new traffic in dreams
and i do not understand your eyes
where there is so much blindness
the glare of your tenacity almost breathing
i am struck down at the window
i have prayed to be that strong — resisting also
the death squads are squealing in the backyards
but there is too much noise — two languages now
spray painting their names like manifestoes
like what you wanted me to be — like this
i don't like the sound my fear makes
and like someone else who has my voice
i talk to myself — begging that someone
who has my arms but speaks a different love
will remember the answer to the enigma
which you have lost the words for
i am waiting for them to tell me
i am waiting now to tell you
From: Screens Jets Heaven. New and Selected Poems
MOTHER I AM WAITING NOW TO TELL YOU
Sponsors
![Gemeente Rotterdam](/images/logo-GR_Basis_RGB_2021.png)
![Nederlands Letterenfonds](/images/logo-Nederlands-Letterenfonds-logo-RGB.png)
![Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds](/images/logo-stichting-van-beuningen-peterich-fonds.png)
![Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds](/images/cf_logo-zwart.png)
![Lira fonds](/images/logo-Lira_fond.png)
![Versopolis](/images/sponsors/logo_versopolis.png)
![J.E. Jurriaanse](/images/sponsors/logo_J_E_Jurriaanse_2020.png)
![Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie](/images/sponsors/logo_NL_fundedbyEU.png)
![Elise Mathilde Fonds](/images/sponsors/logo_EliseMathilde.png)
![Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot](/images/sponsors/logo_VanWijngaarden-Boot.png)
![Veerhuis](/images/sponsors/logo_Veerhuis_2.png)
![VDM](/images/sponsors/logo_VDM.png)
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère