7200
momma mia man date
comb the second Sunday
during month of May
can be traced back
to ancient Greeks and Romans
festivals held
to honor mother
goddesses Rhea and Cybele
setting precedent for Mother's Day
where early Christians
fancied festival
known as “Mothering Sunday.”
Fast forward to the early
twentieth century 1908 when
Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis
(a social activist then,
and community organizer
during American
Civil War) era to quieten
grief fraught era also cited
as informally memorializing
her mother,
who begot said noble men
touring daughter
paying homage to woebegone
lachrymose role with accolades
to endure tragedy and loss put upon
child bearing women,
this event held (rain or sun)
at St Andrew's Methodist Church
in Grafton, West Virginia, which did quicken
in subsequent decades to formal fete,
where poets (like me) did open
the special occasion
with ranked midshipmen
commercialization
cropped as ken
be expected by
the early 1920's imbolden
greeting card companies
such as Hallmark gen
er rated a market
(money making
of course) even
though Jarvis believed
companies sought profit
NOT prophet,
thus misinterpreting
and exploiting idea
of Mother's Day and met
aforementioned founder,
who tried to jet
tis sin the vulgar appetite
of the ole mighty dollar,
but her lofty ambition did get
thwarted by mass marketing
the quaint idea,
plus she feared
going in debt
and though the industry
(initially proposed
entailed low key
acknowledgement,
the originator
(Ann Marie Jarvis)
still esteemed, lionized, revered re
formed unsanitary living conditions with zee
less ness and aplomb
set a course where
greater longevity doth hum
all because,
she sought to regale "mum."
