Everything I Learned About Women Came from 90s Country Music – Emmett Christolear

for Mom

I sang back up for your divorce

song in the car that I picked out

for you with Dad. I learned

every word to your strength

song while we dusted and

sang the CMT top 40.

You sang my womanhood

song on the way to the mall,

where you bought a three pack

of sports bras and a Lego set

for me. You didn’t laugh

like the boys when my breast

began to sting during touch-

football or when I called

you from school for a change

of underwear and shorts.

You taught me my first break-up

song, thickening your drawl

with the banjo. I would have cried

that song for hours if you

had not taken my head

to your lap and hummed

my cradle tune, I L-O-V-E.

Y-O-U, in your best Dixie twang.