Sonnet for a Mother and Daughter
Janine Certo
Months before her death, she said, “Isn’t this
what it’s all about?” Clink of martini
glasses, the sound of our secrets, by which
she meant mother, daughter, joy, sip, and we
ordered artichokes, Spanish octopus,
two bar stools at The Casbah, restaurant
open to Shadyside’s tree-lined sidewalk,
August night song, whatever we wanted,
like the furniture she dusted the tops
of: “My daughter, this will all be yours someday.”
Then on her porch surrounded by her world
of bellflowers, she told me how much she loved
the book, When Breath Becomes Air, and how much
she loved the birds.
Janine Certo is the author of four poetry collections, including Becoming Eve, forthcoming from Bordighera Press; O Body of Bliss, winner of the Longleaf Poetry Prize (2023); and Elixir, winner of both the New American Poetry Prize and the Lauria/Frasca Poetry Prize (New American Press and Bordighera Press, 2021). She is an associate professor at Michigan State University.
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