The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 12/26/07

[BlueIris]

"New Mother"

A week after our child was born,
you cornered me in the spare room
and we sank down on the bed.
You kissed me and kissed me, my milk undid its
burning slip knot through my nipples,
soaking my shirt. All week I had smelled of milk,
fresh milk, sour. I began to throb:
my sex had been torn easily as cloth by the
crown of her head, I'd been cut with a knife and
sewn, the stitches pulling at my skin—
and the first time you’re broken, you don’t know
you'll be healed again, better than before.
I lay in fear and blood and milk
while you kissed and kissed me, your lips hot and swollen
as a teen-aged boy's, your sex dry and big,
all of you so tender, you hung over me,
over the nest of stitches, over the
splitting and tearing, with the patience of someone who
finds a wounded animal in the woods
and stays with it, not leaving its side
until it is whole, until it can run again.

—Sharon Olds

[BlueIris]

1. Kick.

[BlueIris]

2. Kick.

[ThomCat]

3. Wow. That's awesome.

The insecurity and the love that comes through this poem is really cool.

I can relate to this poem tangentially. I wonder if my next SO (if I have one) will love me despite how broken I feel. That feels related, though clearly the woman in this poem doesn't consider herself broken, just wounded and slightly beyond her own control.

The idea of love/sex immediately after pregnancy is a pretty powerful topic.

[BlueIris]

4. OMG, someone actually read this. Must've been after I went to bed. nt

[RainDog]

5. BlueIris, I read your poems every day

I don't always comment because I don't have something to say. in this case, I didn't comment because it was sort of overwhelming because the poem was so visceral - I know that moment.

Thank you for posting the poems. I'll try to remember to kick more often.

p.s. I have major insomnia and have to wake up in a few hours, but only if I can go to sleep first. have any lullabys handy? :/

[BlueIris]

6. Lullabys...hmmm....I'll see what I can do.

Thanks for your support, re: the poem threads. I realize that many people who read don't always have too much to say, (which is fine) but occasionally, when I post something that gets almost no comments, I think, "Well, I guess that was a dud." Then I feel poopy.

[BlueIris]

7. P.S. The best way to fall asleep is to try to stay awake. A lot.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. My dear BlueIris!

Wow, this is one I can really get into, really identify with!

How perfectly she shows the vulnerability of new motherhood...

The pain, the longing, the derangement of your own body, which really isn't yours anymore...

Thank you so much for this one...

[BlueIris]

9. Ah, yes. The derangement of new motherhood. One of the primary reasons

I don't have any kids.