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Mother of Oceania

by Lisa Marie Brodsky


(for S.E.S.)


*
Mother of Splayed Legs
Mother of the C-Section.
Mother of No Anesthesia,
awake and alert, numb from
the neck down.
(Warrior Mother) Mother of Promises
made to a girl back in 1984
crying, naked on a green shag
hotel rug.
Mother of Memories (Conquering Mother).

*
On the operating table she stares
at the dots on the ceiling that
are pores, breathing, pulsing
(Mother of Geology ). Her child is a mineral
found deep in the earth’s crust.
She must dig inside herself,
(Mother of Excavation)
she must be Deep-Sea Mother.

*
The doctors could be diving into anyone’s body
were it not for the pull, the pull.
They are tugboats pulling out the child.
It’s a boy – it’s a boy –
he’s bringing the ocean with him;
(Mother of Oceania)
fish flop onto the tile floor.

*
She nuzzles him, smells him all over
Just to be sure he came from her.
Is this what came?
Not a girl she could protect,
but a boy, a boy?
(Breaking-Chain Mother)
“My son will be a different man.”

09/20/2004

Author's Note: in honor of Sarah Elise... who was tortured and brutally raped for years of her childhood... who gave birth to two beautiful boys through C-Section, with no anesthesia.

Posted on 09/20/2004
Copyright © 2025 Lisa Marie Brodsky

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Anita Mac on 09/20/04 at 04:28 PM

This is beautiful. I have goosebumps from reading it. A wonderful tribute.

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