Her mother didn’t meet her loving need.
She fed the baby and she clothed the child,
but feelings were a theme she didn’t heed –
her daughter’s pain was never reconciled.
She wouldn’t host a longing or a pet.
All practical, she shopped and cleaned a lot.
Recalling what she listed, she’d forget
her offspring’s wishes oftener than not.

For dogs she had a coldness and disdain,
and though she let the father care for fish,
all cats and even kittens were her bane –
she shut down every indoor mammal wish.
And that may be true irony, because
she always yelled by snarl and slapped with claws.