Poem: "Apology to a Daughter Once Removed"
This poem came out of the July 6, 2010 Poetry Fishbowl. It was sponsored by valdary and funded out of general donations, selected by the audience in a poll. This is a prose poem, which I rarely write, but it seemed apt for this concept.
Apology to a Daughter Once Removed
Dear Anastasia,
It's strange what cloning has done to family structure. Cloned from my daughter, you are my daughter and yet not my daughter: my daughter once removed. You are my granddaughter and yet not my granddaughter: my granddaughter once returned. It does not diminish my love for you in the least, but it does add to the confusion.
I would say that I'm sorry to have begotten someone so selfish that she wouldn't even involve a husband in the process of becoming a mother -- but I find that I cannot criticize my daughter without spilling some on you, flesh of her flesh and nobody else's. I would say that I'm sorry, but what I really am is guilty, because in fact I'm not sorry for a second chance to watch that first step and see the same sweet gap-toothed smile once again.
I just wanted you to know that when I said to your mother, a hundred times if I said it once, "I hope you have a daughter just like you someday," I did not mean it literally.
Love,
Nana