Each of us was passed through
the guts of our mother,
like a swallowed stone.
Even after they shat our slimy bodies
into the arms of a stranger,
they still had to carry us home.
They carried us out of the emptiness,
and through the years of swirling dark,
until we were old enough to hate them for it.
——————
I’m sorry, mom.
I’m sorry I saw you
as a sad little girl
who swallowed a magic pebble
so she would never be lonely again;
because maybe that was true,
when our story began,
but you became so much more,
a woman, a mother,
an Orphic heroine.
And yet, you never stopped being sad,
or even lonely.
and despite our combined efforts,
I’m just like you,
minus me.
