​POETRY  

You planned the food you would have    -    Photo by Weebly.com                                    

Your Mother Came to Visit
by Vivian Imperiale

​​Your mother was coming to see you.
It was hard for her to live
3,000 miles away,
not understanding your life.
Months before you had
told your parents you are gay.
They cried; they resisted.
They denied that it was possible.
They cried some more.
 
The truth was there for them,
waiting for them to hold onto it.
They needed time to process this news.
It was hard for you, but it was a relief
to have finally had The Conversation.
 
Now she’d be here.
I would be meeting her for the first time.
You prepared your flat;
you planned the food you would have,
the places you would go,
the people she would meet.
 
But what you didn’t plan for
was the confusion for your mother
to visit her gay son and find me so present.
Me—a woman who so obviously loved you
and whose love was returned by
the sparkle in your beautiful eyes.
 
She had been worrying
that she would find you lonely.
But soon she understood how
deeply you loved and were loved.
I was a constant in your life,
ever-present to stand by you
and soothe you
and laugh with you
and tell you you were wonderful
and support your dreams.
 
She left overflowing with love for you
and, very touchingly, with love for me
because the truth of the stories
you had told her about us,
over the years, came to life
right before her eyes.
 
She saw what we had
and she trusted
that you would find the right man
because you knew
how true love felt.

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​Since age six, Vivian Imperiale has been writing poetry to identify and process her emotions about the world around her. She soon learned that her poems could be meaningful to others. A friend touched her with these words, "You gave me words for an emotion I didn't even know I needed to express."

Other pieces in this Issue:  
Poetry:
It Started With Your Voice

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