No poetry submissions by students for today's posting.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Motherhood”
By Amanda Beuning
My deepest vulnerabilities
were birthed right along with the
pain, blood, placenta.
In the midst of this perfect, beautiful baby
they slink away,
lay festering, forgotten.
Until they are exposed,
assaulted.
As he is screaming in pain
jab after jab of needles
probing his frail arm,
eyes searching mine, betrayed.
Crying, scared, taken from my arms
placed on the cold gurney
much too large for his tiny, quivering body
and wheeled behind double doors.
Wailing, silenced by the ventilator
tears flooding from his eyes and
pooling in soft fuzz of his hair.
Begging to be held, safe.
Our simple, cozy life
replaced by complications, setbacks,
chylothorax, a vile word that actually requires
starving my baby for days,
days that were stretched into endless minutes.
Forcing me out as he begs for nourishment
and comfort from my breast.
9 IV pumps incessantly beeping,
clumsy minister, patronizing doctors
nurses, with constant, exhausting chatter
all trying to lull me into submission,
surrender him
to their impersonalized care.
Now he is growing, becoming a boy.
But still, images haunt,
Lurking in unexpected moments
To remind me
The price of so deep love.
"I've always enjoyed reading poetry, but this is the first poem I've ever written."
