By Wendy Dunn
My mother told me,
‘You’ll be a wife and mother
Just like me
Good girls don’t sleep with men
But wait for the ring
Contract signed
Don’t marry
An Englishman
They’re all mad
Just look at your dad
My life ended
When I married him.’
My Dad predicted for me
Two possible paths
Work in a Jam factory
Or, walk the streets
(Maybe
Reverse psychology?)
I married at 18
My Englishman
Mad at times
But so am I
Having babies
Locked away
In the story of wife
It seemed at times
My mother was right
Marriage was the end
To living, to dreams
An older woman told me
‘You’ve made your bed,
Lie in it.’
I birthed my second son
And screamed out why?
Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?
I cried.
I didn’t know anymore
I had no story
Other than marriage, mothering
A smothering life
I had lost my dream
My soul dying
How could I mother,
When I hadn’t learnt
to live?
An unexamined life
Is not worth living
A wise man once said
I seized my life
An authentic life
By writing
Image by Mikhail Pavstyuk.