“Whether things are good or bad”: On the Front Porch with “Momma: In Her Purest Form”

Today on the front porch (though I’m tempted to suggest we move to a warm fire for this feature until April) we’re taking a look at “Momma: In Her Purest Form,” by Hall Thursday writer Kee Humphrey. This is another great piece from “I Am Here,” the newest issue of JOT. If you haven’t had a chance to read a copy yet, you absolutely should. We’ve only been able to feature a few pieces on the blog, including “The Bluebird” by Larry Ambrose and “The Beach in Six Views” by Ilze Vitands, but these are only samples of the wonderful work in this issue.

MOMMA: IN HER PUREST FORM
Kee Humphrey

i often pray myself to sleep
whether things are good or bad
sometimes odd dreams weave intricately like lace
my awake-asleep mind settled randomly upon a place
Momma:  in her purest form

i hadn’t remembered her like that in so long
soul music whispering slow
light in our small westside flat shone dusky and low
Momma:  at her teenaged self
teaching me these prayers

i felt love
Momma:  would cook hamburger helper
we would play parcheesi we was everything
we was  e v e r y t h i n g
in my biggest smallest self
Momma:  was

all that love flushed me back
where tears and sweat hurricaned my sheets
i awoke sobbing fully and glorifying hard
God was telling me
don’t be afraid
Momma’s cancer:  don’t mean a thing—she will always be with me

I love Kee’s innovative use of capitalization, punctuation, and spacing in this poem. I especially love how many times she says “Momma:” with the colon after it, as if she was trying to define her mother over and over again. What about you? Why do you think Kee chose to say “i” instead of “I”? What does the spacing in the word “e v e r y t h i n g” mean to you? Have you read other poems that also experiment with punctuation and spacing? How is the effect in those poems similar or different to Kee’s?

Kee also doesn’t mention her mother’s cancer until the very last line of the poem. What role does cancer play in the poem? What is the effect of delaying that crucial piece of information? What does cancer have to do with the “purest form” of Kee’s Momma?

Hall Branch Thursday Writer Kee Humphrey Photo by Sheila Barabad