Peel Away The Layers

mother:

and so I'll peel away the layers

and I'll make them into a book

and I'll give it to you

so you can make it into a movie

and I'll be a silver screen

I'll be a little gleam in the corner of your eye

all salt and all settled down

I'll lay beneath the cold ground but

I'll still be kicking around

inside the pages of my big fat book

I'd like to take a lock

of your baby hair

and put it in my book

so you will end up in your movie

and I'll be the fire inside

the tears falling from the audience's eyes

ashes become fertile ground

I won't be making a sound

but I'll be all written out

inside the pages of my big fat book

daughter:

and I'll read them

until I

know them by heart

and I'll make them into

a movie of your life

so the people will

weep tears of joy

and then they'll know

who you were

when they see my movie

I'll make it a beautiful

psy-cho-dra-ma

and a biography

I'll make it a thriller, too

but I'll give it a

twisted ending

and you will live

on and on

inside of

my movie

(and inside your mind

dear and most beloved reader

strangers and of course you, my daughter)