My mother
squatted
in the heat,
breathing
through contractions,
filled
one last pail of
perfect
sweetness for
her mother-in-law
who, the day we
left the delivery
room, would be
wanting
fresh jam.
And every
birthday,
when my mother
whips me up an angel
food cake with strawberries,
I imagine myself
slipping out
between those tidy
rows of straw,
only the
umbilical cord
around my neck
to hold me together.
I'm not sure where I'm going with this. Other than incredulity at my Oma for forcing a 9-month-pregnant woman to pick berries. (And I wasn't actually born until she got to the hospital, but I was born with the cord wrapped.)
1 comment:
I'm not sure if it matters that you were not actually born in the strawberry patch. You do say "I imagine," which leaves it open. I'm not sure about the last line, though. Why is the idea of holding together important here?
The first few lines are lovely; they bring us right into the scene. In the next few lines it feels like the syntax needs re-arranging-- the clause bracketed by commas and the wording of "would be wanting" don't flow quite as well.
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