The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 7/10/08

[BlueIris]

"First Birth"

I had thought so little, really, of her,
inside me, all that time, not breathing—
intelligent, maybe curious,
her eyes closed. When the vagina opened,
slowly, from within, from the top, my eyes
rounded in shock and awe, it was like being
entered for the first time, but entered
from the inside, the child coming in
from the other world. Enormous, stately,
she was pressed through the channel, she turned, and rose,
they held her up by a very small ankle,
she dangled indigo and scarlet, and spread
her arms out to this world. Each thing
I did then, I did for the first
time, touched the flesh of our flesh,
brought the tiny mouth to my breast,
she drew the avalanche of milk
down off the mountain, I felt as if
I was nothing, no one, I was everything to her, I was hers.

—Sharon Olds

[Chan790]

1. Sharon Olds is one of my favorites.

I hadn't seen this one before. Thanks!

[BlueIris]

2. Same.

This is from her 1995 book, "The Wellspring."

[BlueIris]

3. Kick.

[BlueIris]

4. Kick.

[BlueIris]

5. Ohhhh. Who is the sweet person who rec'd this thread?

THANK YOU, SWEET PERSON. I'm having a crap day, so that is much appreciated.

[RetroLounge]

6. Great. Another Sharon Old poem about her vagina...

:hide:

Just kidding. I loves me Sharon Olds!

:hi:

RL

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. My dear BlueIris!

Wow!

This is wonderful!

The transition from pregnancy to new motherhood!

I LOVE it...

Thank you!

:hi:

[BlueIris]

8. Heh. And I thought I was going to get smacked by Ms. C-Peg for

squicking her out with words like "vagina." But then I remembered—Ms. C-Peg knows fine poetry.

[BlueIris]

9. And HEY. More RECS. Oh, you crazy Loungers.

Make out with me.