Eden is in her sun room.
She is surrounded by a jungle of house plants—her
Garden of Eden. It is morning—her
time of day. In the corner of the window screen
a spider annexes silver and magenta veined leaves
from the Wandering Jew into her doilied domain.
A tiny lizard suns herself on the toe of Eden’s slipper.

Eden is standing at her ironing board.
She is sewing, of course—a Wonder Woman uniform
for my doll. She is frowning her famous frown
of intense concentration—that frown
that I diligently practice throughout my childhood,
because my mother is beautiful and I want
to look as much like her as I can, as soon as possible.

Caron McCloud

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