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MOTHER, EARTHED | Audrey T. Williams
these bulbs
our last collaboration
might sleep forever
might rot unseen
but then
in the mirror this morning I see
your smile in mine
your tilt toward light
these hands, my hands are your hands
this heart, my heart is your heart continuing
the tulips were never your legacy
they rest in winter’s hush while I walk above
counting days, counting heartbeats, until I see
I am the garden you tended longest
the bloom you coaxed through every season
perhaps thaw begins not in the soil but
in surrender
in trusting
the slow unfurling of what lies beneath
perhaps I am enough
daughter
seed
continuation
perhaps practicing patience too
is a form of blooming
under frost’s tight fist
the tulip bulbs dream
where we buried them
your hands guiding mine
through your last autumn’s light
already too thin
too cold
teaching me depths and distances
the mathematics of hope
planted
six inches
six feet
deep
now winter grips the garden
I press my palm to frozen earth
willing warmth through black silk leaves
through crystals of ice that refuse
the heat of my pleading
what alchemy turns dormancy to desire?
time holds its breath in winter’s vault
my brown fingers remembering the green riot
that was our garden in the summers of my youth
my skin forgetting
the last touch of your trembling hand
I’ve bargained with the seasons
with God and Goddess
coaxed Spring with whispered promises
with tears that chill before falling
Audrey T. Williams, MFA, is an emerging Black American poet with Burmese heritage whose work explores relentless resilience, ancestry, and speculative literature. As the founder of AncestralFutures.org and an organizing force in the Black Speculative Arts Movement's Oakland chapter, she bridges community wellness with cultural narrative preservation through "Words for Wellness" programs. Her writing, published in "Space & Time Magazine," "Conjuring Worlds: An Afrofuturist Textbook," "Peregrine Journal," "Lightspeed Magazine" and more, explores themes of self-nurturing, new motherhood and the anticipatory grief of eldercare. Williams, who serves as Co-chair for the 2026 World Fantasy Convention, actively contributes to the San Francisco Bay Area's literary landscape through her curation work with Bay Area literary festivals such as LitQuake and Beast Crawl, as well as local bookstore events.