"excessive food intake"
might be
the only way
to tell how i am doing

my mother seems to think
      if she's still eating
      she must be okay
      the more she eats
      the better life is

meanwhile,
i see her growing thin.

my mother is a loving woman
my mother is a caregiver
my mother is a worrier
my mother is a fool
                sometimes

it frightens me
sometimes
the degree to which
she does not know me

but maybe it is because
she is often so afraid
to know herself
and what am i but an extension
of herself?