Friday Poetry: Donna Brook

Donna Brook
Poem Found on Parents' Night

for Kate Mellon

I said

This is an age
where you need to allow her more
freedom
more risk-taking
or you might create
an unnecessary struggle.

Her mother replied

I had a dream
where Kenya told me
she was moving to France
and I said
You can't move to France.
You're only nine years old.
But she did
and I followed her.
When I got there
she was already all set up.
She'd gotten some French parents
to adopt her
and she'd changed her name
to Mozambique.