Teresa Forrest
Birth Control
At antenatal classes,
we sat proud-bellied,
in rows, on hard-backed
chairs with spindly legs
to watch a video
about a woman giving
birth.
Stiff-upper-lipped,
stale-faced, small gasps
choked back pain
like cough drops,
sweat tripped like tears
she could not
shed.
Then someone nudged
the rewind button.
Time stills. Reverse.
A startled baby, blue.
Bawls. Stuffed back
inside that tender
mother.
Sisyphus in stirrups.
Ready to roll.
Once more, suspended
mother. Wide-eyed,
wings clipped,
her dreams nowhere yet
to fly.
we sat proud-bellied,
in rows, on hard-backed
chairs with spindly legs
to watch a video
about a woman giving
birth.
Stiff-upper-lipped,
stale-faced, small gasps
choked back pain
like cough drops,
sweat tripped like tears
she could not
shed.
Then someone nudged
the rewind button.
Time stills. Reverse.
A startled baby, blue.
Bawls. Stuffed back
inside that tender
mother.
Sisyphus in stirrups.
Ready to roll.
Once more, suspended
mother. Wide-eyed,
wings clipped,
her dreams nowhere yet
to fly.
Page(s) 48
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