Barbara Rockman

Issue #
5
September 7, 2014

Birthing Beach


Seal swept       I come closer.     to be among crescents
want to be comma    to be paisley planted against     to be
of the pattern but
obey the Stay Back signs     As tides slick
those bodies   I want to be among
the young    A mother never stops arcing
her body half-pond they come to

A cow bellows      black gush      the pup
clamps her heft      no shake-off      no peel-back
Whiskered snout barnacled to rock      sides designed with scars
she has spent centuries swelling
her thick hips

An orphan tries to latch      Mother after mother
slaps her off

I am left
with green wind
            and the seals moaning

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