Entrance

my breathing was born with lines on its palms
so entranced I did not open my lungs with passing
ripped through the induced laboring canal
purple-blue with no howling on my lips
my mother's parts for two weeks over
refused to release this creature
these seven swimming pounds distorting her
I cried only as I was unnerved
lifted from my mother's flaccid midsection
observing her so stark that she was frightened
before they scubbed away my sheath of blood

I was to be her salvation
these most formed bones and vessels
organs that had rejected hers
grown ill and smart off her insides
how many nights
did she frantic paw her rising belly
for heartbeats that would not come
how many times I died within her
her only hope my diseased tissues
fetal soul beneath her hands

copyright 1996 Ginger Pierce Davis