After Birth

week one

she finds herself almost all alone after

friends and family leave celebrating her womb

now empty and the line between the beautiful

curled infant creature and herself

is still blurred as she brings the new soul to

her breast day after day after being born

week two

the pain continues long after baby was born

but no one told her much about the after

time when everyone comes to

see the baby and forgets the womb

that teleported a soul—everyone but herself

forgets but the baby is beautiful

week three

she wonders if she will ever feel beautiful

again or if like other mothers after baby is born

she will forget the makeup and the clothes, forget herself

like her own mother forgot how hard it is after

passing a soul through her womb

and didn't prepare her daughter to

week four

everyone expected her to

bounce back to the same beautiful

woman she was before her womb

stretched and worked for a soul to be born

so of course she did day after

bloody day all by herself

week five

never a moment to herself

never a moment to

think about what happens after

every moment poured into the beautiful

soul still newly born

and fresh from still-aching womb

week six

it used to be her womb

belonged only to herself

before it let a soul be born

it was her own intimate space to

receive and now she wonders if she will ever again receive that beautiful

happily ever after

epilogue

The mother was born the day her child left her womb,

And after... After she didn't even know herself,

But the self she came to know was beautiful.