Chapter 16
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“Letter to My Mother / Whom I Blamed for Absolutely Everything”

Book Excerpt: Queen of Jacks

Letter to My Mother
                  Whom I Blamed for Absolutely Everything

You’ve been gone fifty years, Mother.
I no longer blame you, and I miss that.
This business of accepting responsibility

myself for every little thing is difficult.
So when things go awry, my husband
and I blame Kaylee, mischievous thing

that she is. She handles it well, much
better than you ever did. As long as she
can jump up on our kitchen counter

and supervise my opening a can of cat food
into a clean bowl twice a day, she’s good to go.
She is independent, sweet and funny,

as you were, a true nonconformist,
just like you. She is most beautiful, a show-
stopper. She has star quality, like you.

“Letter to My Mother / Whom I Blamed for Absolutely Everything”

Copyright (c) 2019 by Stellasue Lee. All rights reserved. Stellasue Lee is a co-host, with Linda Parsons, of WordStream, a weekly reading series in Knoxville. She was founding editor of Rattleand is now editor emerita. Dr. Lee received her Ph.D. from Honolulu University. Winner of the grand prize of Poetry to Aide Humanity by Al Falah in Malaysia, she now teaches privately.

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