to the smell of mustard greens
special recipe mac and cheese
cornbread from scratch and cookies
baking in the oven
to the sound of their mama
screamin at somebody on the tv
getting on her nerves for the tenth time
while she watches the same shows
announcing to the whole house
that this will be
the last time I trip
over a child’s raggedy school shoes
or telling them you better
clean up that funky alleyway
that you like to call
your bedroom
some kids grew up
being asked about
why their grades ain’t
better than that and fussin
over homework they need to do
but my mama
was different
my mama just
wasn’t really the type