Poetry Dedication Project

Iliana Tineo

My Mother

This is dedicated to my mother because she’s always been there for us. Even after everything we went

through after being taken away from her, she remained strong and got us back. She’s a brave and smart woman and my inspiration. Everything she

does is done for her four children. Everything I do is because of her. Each breath I take is because of the

love she has shown us.

I love you mom.

‘Mother o’ Mine’ by Rudyard Kipling

If I were hanged on the highest hill, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

I know whose love would follow me still, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were drowned in the deepest sea, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

I know whose tears would come down to me, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were damned of body and soul, I know whose prayers would make me whole,

Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

Mother o’ Mine ExplanationA good mother can be described as someone who goes overboard with love and doesn’t let anything stand between her and her baby. A good mother is someone who will always consider their child first in her life.

This might be what Kipling was trying to say when he spoke about his own mother. Even if he was drowned in the deepest sea, she would grieve his death until he felt it himself.

This story relates to my relationship with my mother because I have noticed that she’s the kind of person who would give her own life to save her child. She went through so much to get us children back after we were taken away from her for no reason. She would pray that we come back to her and she promised to raise us even better than before. In my eyes, my mother did the best job in the world on raising us. We’ve never rebelled against her and what she tells us to do.

And so, Mother o’ Mine would go to the ends of the world to be able to hold her children one more time. And she did.

‘Parents’ by William MeredithWhat it must be like to be an angel

or a squirrel, we can imagine sooner.

The last time we go to bed good,they are there, lying about darkness.

They dandle us once too often,these friends who become our enemies.

Suddenly one day, their juniorsare as old as we yearn to be.

They get wrinkles where it is bettersmooth, odd coughs, and smells.

It is grotesque how they go onloving us, we go on loving them

The effrontery, barely imaginable,of having caused us. And of how.

Their lives: surelywe can do better than that.

This goes on for a long time. Everythingthey do is wrong, and the worst thing,

they all do it, is to die,taking with them the last explanation,

how we came out of the wet seaor wherever they got us from,

taking the last linkof that chain with them.

Father, mother, we cry, wrinkling,to our uncomprehending children and grandchildren.

Parents Explanation

This poem shows us one of the things most of us dread the most; parents getting old and dying. It becomes a touchy subject but you learn from your parents, you learn and you teach your children who then teach their own. Good parents are a trophy many take for granted nowadays.

My mom raised my older brother and I without a father. Although this was hard for her, she never complained. She re-married and although she had difficult times throughout that marriage, she still stayed strong. She’s an example to my entire family of how to be happy with what you have and not sad because of what you don’t have.

‘Sonnets Are Full of Love, and This is My Tome’ by Christina Rossetti

Sonnets are full of love, and this my tomeHas many sonnets: so here now shall be

One sonnet more, a love sonnet, from meTo her whose heart is my heart’s quiet home,To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee

I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome;Whose service is my special dignity,

And she my loadstar while I go and comeAnd so because you love me, and becauseI love you, Mother, I have woven a wreath

Of rhymes wherewith to crown your honored name:In you not fourscore years can dim the flame

Of love, whose blessed glow transcends the lawsOf time and change and mortal life and death.

‘Sonnets Are Full of Love, and This is My Tome’ Explanation

When reading Christina Rossetti’s work, you come to find that she had a tight knit relationship with her mother. This might be why she has become one of my favorite poets. She describes her mother’s heart as being home to her own heart. This is how I feel when I think about my mother. She’s kept me warm and secured for so long. She gives up things she could have for herself and, instead, gives them to us, her children. She always carries a smile and has taught us to be grateful. She loves me and always expresses it towards me.

She’s even shown interest in everything I do. She asks me about my past and is always oh so concerned about what has happened when I was in my foster home. She’s become my best friend and a very good one at that. Not ever before have I had a friend who is so loyal, caring, and honest at the same time. No, never will I find someone this amazing.

‘To My Mother’ by Robert Louis Stevenson

You too, my mother, read my rhymesFor love of unforgotten times,

And you may chance to hear once moreThe little feet along the floor.

‘To My Mother’ ExplanationStevenson made this poem very short but very much heart felt. He insists that his mother read his poems so she can remember how much he loved her and vice versa. He also states so she can remember unforgotten times. Perhaps things that might seem little to some, but indeed aren’t to them.

The two lines may have different meaning to many. But in my eyes, I see it as Stevenson wanting his mother to remember when he was just a smile child and his feet were small; perhaps when he was just learning to walk. This takes me back to those times when it was just me and my mother. She always seems to make time for me and her only since I’m the only girl. We can go out and watch a movie or two or we can just talk in the car.

Those are things many people take for granted, but I’ll always keep them in my heart because they mean a lot to me. Even when we have small chats, they always seem to make me feel so much more happy.

‘Mother Doesn’t Want a Dog’ by Judith Viorst

Mother doesn't want a dog.Mother says they smell,

And never sit when you say sit,

Or even when you yell.And when you come home

late at nightAnd there is ice and snow,

You have to go back out because

The dumb dog has to go.

Mother doesn't want a dog.Mother says they shed,

And always let the strangers inAnd bark at friends instead,

And do disgraceful things on rugs,And track mud on the floor,

And flop upon your bed at nightAnd snore their doggy snore.

Mother doesn't want a dog.She's making a mistake.

Because, more than a dog, I thinkShe will not want this snake.

‘Mother Doesn’t Wan a Dog’ Explanation

This poem is a much more joyful one. It brings back so many memories about arguments my brother and I have had about pets with her. She says they smell and they make messes. But what made me even more happy was the ending; Because, more than a dog, she will not like this snake.

I’m sure she’d laugh if she read this poem knowing that I always ask her for a snake and her answer is always typical; no. But even small arguments like this can make one laugh and learn to love their mother even more.

This poem shows the comical side of being a mother.

‘Caring’ Original Poem by Iliana Tineo

Although we’ve had our laughsAlthough we’ve had our cries

I’ll never forget the things you’ve doneTo help us from our minds

Like stopping us from fightsOr hugging us when we’re downAll this you’ve done to help us up

My father would be proud

‘Caring’ Explanation

I wrote this poem to show how much I appreciate my mother. All the things she’s put aside for us really makes me proud. She never chose sides when there was an argument/non-physical fight going on with my siblings. She always used her sweet words to teach us that we were wrong and how we can improve.

The last sentence shows that my deceased father would had been very proud with everything she’s done for us kids.

‘Momma Bird’ Original Poem by Iliana Tineo

Out of all the humansYou are the best

You’ve kept us warmIn your stringy nest

Though having to move from place to placeYou always kept a smile on your face

You taught us to be very strongYou taught us when we were right and wrong

From tree to tree you watched us growYou warmed us up when it would snow

And so I thank you lovinglyYou taught us to fly freely

‘Momma Bird’ Explanation

In this poem I compared my mother to a bird who keeps her babies warm until they hatch. She never leaves her birds behind when she moves from place to place and she never complains when she takes us from tree to tree.

It also states that she warmed us up when it would snow. It symbolic to me because my mother has always assured herself that we were warm and comfortable with who we were surrounded by and where we were. She always made sure we were happy. If we were not happy, she wasn’t either.

‘Responsibility Rubs Off’ Original Poem by Iliana Tineo

One, two, three, four,She watched when we first crawled the floor

Five, six, seven, eight, She always asked us if we ate

Nine, ten, eleven, twelve,We’re turning old, we’ll bath ourselves

Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,Now we’re old enough to use the washing machine

‘Responsibility Rubs Off’ Explanation

This poem was written to show a small piece of what a mother is like during a couple of years. It also was meant to show that a mother has much responsibility, but when we reach a certain age, that responsibility rubs off on us and now we need to do everything our mother has done for us. It’s meant to be comical in a loving way. I wanted to show that parents are still supposed to be strict, but in a loving way.

‘Rules and Jewels’ Original Poem by Iliana TineoNo candyNo bitingNo hitting

No fightingMama gives us too may rules

Lets go play with all her jewelsNo scratchingNo screamingNo punchingNo dreaming

Now that’s is just way too muchMama, where do you keep your blush?

‘Rules and Jewels’ Explanation

I wrote this poem to show a more comical side of being a mother. I’m not a mother, but I have been in these kids position. Mothers are strict and sometimes for the best of reasons. But children, like myself, don’t understand it for a while and just think that parents are too old to understand what’s going on.

I tried to make this one relate to experiences I’ve had with my mother. She tells me not to do something, when I do it, what she says will probably be the consequence sadly turns into the consequence. Being a girl, breaking into your mother’s room to play with her makeup and jewelry is done often. This is just a fun poem to show both the child’s and the mother’s point of view.

‘I Love You’ Original Poem by Iliana Tineo

There you laidWith hardly a breath

You looked into my eyesYou seemed so depressed

But there you went and got the energyTo hug me and tell me I’m everything

You said you cared and that you’d never leaveEvery moment with you is a new memory

‘I Love You’ Explanation

This poem was written when remembering a tough situation my family and I went through in 2011. We almost lost my mother but she found the strength to keep living. This shows that a parent’s love for their children never leaves. Instead, it grows more and more with every breath they take. Even while in a hospital bed, my mother’s only worry was us, her children.

Bibliography

• http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5868

• http://www.slideshare.net/?ss• Google Images