Sunday, June 8, 2008

Unexpected

For Writer's Island
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Colors

Blue and trucks,
racecars.
No pink, certainly.

Convinced you are a boy,
Dominic Derek.
Who can argue
with the needle test?
And a slow heartbeat?
And that thing
we saw
when you moved
during your ultrasound?

We knew you were a boy,
a new little snowboarder,
a fisherman.
There you were in your father’s arms,
love dripping from his eyes.

My little girl
now a mother
gathered in my arms
sharing the knowledge
of labor and pain
and birthing a son.

Big eyes,
a smile full of wonder,
words that float
in the air
but don’t penetrate.
“Mom, it’s a girl!”

A girl?
My ears are ready
for blue words;
they don’t comprehend
these pink birds
fluttering,
fluttering,
finally finding a home
in my heart.

Ruffles and dolls
Mother
Daughter.
Mother
Daughter.

7 comments:

  1. As the father of 5 boys and 2 girls, I can get a glimpse of how this feels :-)

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  2. You can't believe everything you 'hear'.

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  3. surprised at birth??? love it.. i miss the days we used to get to guess what the baby was and how much it would weight and all of that... i know preparedness rules now... but i still kind of miss the old way....

    congrats grammy....

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  4. Wonderful thoughts. Thanks for posting this!

    witchcraft

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  5. I sooo get this - so enjoyable Linda!

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  6. Linda, this was a delightful poem. I watched my daughter give birth and it changed me. I can't wait for a grandaughter with four grandsons. ;)

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  7. Yes congratulations and nice poem.......they told me my first was a girl and I KNEW they were wrong (and of course they were).

    J

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