April Madness - 2025

gaia: a mother on gardens
call me a villian,
but all i wanted
was to keep my
children safe.

my husband threw my babies to hell
because he thought they were ugly.
my son killed his father
and ate his children.
my grandson killed my son
and ate his wife.

we mothers are blind
to our children's faults.
we can't control them
any more than we can
turn sugar to salt.
every chance we get,
we'd choose them
over their fathers.
we hate our husbands
and love our sons
even when
they become
another version
of the very man
they first destroyed.

we subject our daughters to horror.
i did the same with mine.
that gentle gardener's heart
turned to ash and flames.
the same happened to mine.
you take too much after me.

don't make
the same mistakes
i did.

tell your daughters
not to let men plant their seeds
in the gardens that are
their hearts and ovaries.
for men will plant the seed
and leave,
only returning
to reap the benefits
of what you've sown.
have tea with your daughters,
talk about plants and soil,
and when men wander in
with lazy limbs and cocky grins,
tell him he does not belong.
"we do not tolerate weeds in our gardens.
get out."