<gh_stars>0
{
  "author": "<NAME>",
  "classification": "Rhymed Stanza",
  "keywords": [
    "Relationships",
    "Family",
    "Ancestors",
    "Social Commentaries",
    "Gender",
    "Sexuality"
  ],
  "period": "",
  "reference": "http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/241384",
  "region": "U.S., New England",
  "text": [
    "By menopause, it\u2019s not just estrogen",
    "my mother lacks. She\u2019s lost her eldest son\u2014",
    "that\u2019s me, the one who\u2019s queer\u2014the doctor who",
    "once made her very proud. These days, I do",
    "my own wash when I\u2019m home, I cook for her",
    "so she can take a break from all the chores",
    "she now refuses to assign to me.",
    "She sits, half-watching Ricki through her tea\u2019s",
    "thin steam, her squint of disapproval more",
    "denial than it is disgust. She hears",
    "much better than she sees\u2014it\u2019s easier",
    "to keep out vision than it is to clear",
    "the air of sounds\u2014and yet I know it\u2019s age",
    "that stultifies her senses too. Enraged",
    "because she\u2019s lost so much, I understand",
    "why suddenly she looks so stunned",
    "as from the television: \u201c. . . Bitch, she stole",
    "my boyfriend, my own mother did! . . .\u201d I fold",
    "a towel noiselessly. I know she thinks",
    "it\u2019s garbage, sinful, crap\u2014just as she thinks",
    "that taking estrogen in pills is not",
    "what God intended, no matter what",
    "the doctors say; or that I\u2019m gay is plain",
    "unnatural, she can\u2019t endure such pain.",
    "The oven timer rings. The cookies that",
    "I\u2019ve baked are done. I\u2019ll make another batch",
    "though she won\u2019t touch them: given up for Lent.",
    "My mother\u2019s love. I wonder where it went."
  ],
  "title": "Madonna and Child",
  "year": ""
}