The Two Mothers(A Conversation)

The one who cares
is the one you abandon
to the slow germination
of village days.

The other one departs
her few fallow acres

whose most valued possessions
are beauty and optimism
gods and demons

whose bedroom has become
a shrine to a three speed fan
and singers of renown.

She is the backbone of the shop
ironing (everything
has a perfect crease)
but despite her virtue

she gives birth
to a confused offspring—part
bird perhaps, oddly plumed,
partly you.