One more poem from the Calabash workshop
Baby Steps
The wooden floor groans with each step
the night air whistles through the house
she clutches her stomach , looks down the steps
Dante's pillars and layers to hell.
She remembers the beatings and the cursing
the bleeding and tearing between her legs,
fighting for breath under dark sheets
not knowing how to see God in a tainted womb.
Her sisters sing Kumbaya and speak tongues
rub oil oner her belly to bless the child
she gets sick at the sight of baby shoes
cribs,toys and the sound of children.
She looks down the steps with pain and regret,
as she falls she feels the baby kicking.
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So wat happened to her? did she feel cleansed even though she "gets sick at the sight of baby shoes"?
ReplyDeleteI would love to know her fate...cuz i figured she may not have died, or did she? hope she didnt...
The poem is about rape abortion and suicide. I have left the ending open. How would you like it to open ? do you think she will survive the suicide attempt?
ReplyDeletelike it to end*
ReplyDeleteIt would be an interesting ending if she went into early labour and died right after giving birth. In the moment that she sees the baby, that's when she feels cleansing, free of the torment of the rape and disappointment and regret knowing that she's dying and will not see the child grow up.
ReplyDeleteI knew it... Its quite sad really, a controversial topic. If a woman is raped and gets pregnant what does she do?
ReplyDelete-Get rid of it to discontinue the memories of this childs existance
- Love unconditionally?
Hmmm
Good one Simon
Michaelia - who's to say she doesnt go into early labour? you get me. that kind of ending would give the poem too much closure. i want to see where peoples minds go with the issue.
ReplyDeleteSasha - I intended for the poem to ask these questions.
My interpretation is that she's about to throw herself down a flight of stairs to induce a miscarriage/abortion. Whether she or the child survives the fall, who knows? We're meant to wonder.
ReplyDeleteBut I like that the ending is open, Simo. It allows my mind to contemplate those possible endings, without taking away/straying from the intense emotions conveyed in that moment at the top of the stairs.
Sometimes short and bitter stories have more impact than happy endings.
oops, patient 21 is me Simo lol
ReplyDelete