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This writing was accepted for publication in the 96 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book... “am I really extinct” Down in the Dirt (v122) (the Mar./Apr. 2014 Issue) You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book:

Order this writing in the book the Beaten Path (a Down in the Dirt Jan. - June 2014 collection book)		get the 372 page Jan. - June 2014 Down in the Dirt magazine issue collection 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

Order this writing in the book Need to Know Basis (redacted edition) (the 2014 poetry, flash fiction & short prose collection book)		get this poem collection 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

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Matriarch

Daniel J O’Brien

She was old, grey and smart
when her teeth were in.
In spring and autumn she could
feel the rain in her arms.

But I, a young boy, could connive her
into giving me sweet cough drops,
faking a hack after she came home
from her long walk from the drugstore,
before she strangled her rosary beads,
whispering words I did not understand,
getting bored from listening,
chewing my Vick’s after three sucks,
looking at her framed congratulations from
Jimmy Carter for reaching ninety,
wondering how the young dark beauty
in that ancient photo could be the same
veinous, wrinkled woman sitting in that chair,
reading the holy book filled with enough
memorial prayer cards to bookmark every page.

She always embarrassed me,
bellowing out of the living room window
to wear a hat in 70 degree weather,
while neighborhood kids laughed at me.
I told her to leave me alone.
I told her I hated her.

Then Sunday came,
and she added sugar to the spaghetti sauce
from a recipe she created.
My mother scolded her like a child
until she walked away with her head down.
Then I went into my room and sobbed.

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