Upon the Breaking of Her Water
A Poem for Whit Brannoc Graves
Brandie Trent
In your mother’s proud childhood home
A crowd of polite strangers gather
to celebrate
to commemorate
your far-away arrival
Over mocktails and biscotti
they introduce themselves
making connections
invisible lines
assimilating
What makes me like you?
What makes you like me?
What history can we weave for ourselves to show
that we are united?
that we are linked?
They stretch transparent threads
creating a mystical spider web
across the parlor
forgetting other ways
They
Are
United
Forgetting vein and hair and sinew
They speak of Moby Dick and Gatsby
Their theses
Their publications
Their honors
You will be among these
And with a splash
as delicate as condensation slipping from a punch glass…
The cool shirts dampen
the Scholarship
the Learning
slip away back to instinct
The women fly down from pedestals
and crouch
at her round belly
This wise tribe
encircles you
dripping from your mother
they cast down a blessing
as you emerge
There’s going to be a baby tonight!
They will greet you tomorrow
Your mother will be a new queen
… but now she is frightened
feeling your head pointing north
seeking a guiding star
The women know
You know
your way
But first the night full of fear
and questions and pain
and the whistle of a
train crossing a trestle tugging
a heavy load from one place to another
You begin to travel to me
sticky as the summer solstice
and it becomes your turn to introduce yourself
giving our flimsy silver web a gold plating
because now you have connected us
like pearls in a strand
Brandie Trent
In your mother’s proud childhood home
A crowd of polite strangers gather
to celebrate
to commemorate
your far-away arrival
Over mocktails and biscotti
they introduce themselves
making connections
invisible lines
assimilating
What makes me like you?
What makes you like me?
What history can we weave for ourselves to show
that we are united?
that we are linked?
They stretch transparent threads
creating a mystical spider web
across the parlor
forgetting other ways
They
Are
United
Forgetting vein and hair and sinew
They speak of Moby Dick and Gatsby
Their theses
Their publications
Their honors
You will be among these
And with a splash
as delicate as condensation slipping from a punch glass…
The cool shirts dampen
the Scholarship
the Learning
slip away back to instinct
The women fly down from pedestals
and crouch
at her round belly
This wise tribe
encircles you
dripping from your mother
they cast down a blessing
as you emerge
There’s going to be a baby tonight!
They will greet you tomorrow
Your mother will be a new queen
… but now she is frightened
feeling your head pointing north
seeking a guiding star
The women know
You know
your way
But first the night full of fear
and questions and pain
and the whistle of a
train crossing a trestle tugging
a heavy load from one place to another
You begin to travel to me
sticky as the summer solstice
and it becomes your turn to introduce yourself
giving our flimsy silver web a gold plating
because now you have connected us
like pearls in a strand