Maternity (Part I)

Maternity

1

Beyond the formless

maw of unbridgeable white

struggles a figure,

unhuman yet humane,

the sectional amassment

of its bodice

grayscale and nonuniform

to every potential

though nonexistent wanderer.

Bulbous before the hips,

cutting a furrow

through steady accumulations—

frigid and swarming—

she seeks shelter

in places likely and

unlikely, divining hope

from somewhere within,

time ever a factor.

Ether and chill

part mere inches

ahead and peripherally,

forming a cone

of unintentional negligence

to so many

opportunities for salvation,

opportunities invisible, until

one materializes afront.

Happenstance births providence

as a pine tree,

its boughs bent

and overloaded with

so many morsels

of weightless pressure.

Integrity dwindled but

unbroken, a slivered

entryway beckons underneath.

All four legs,

bloody and ravaged

and weakened from

travel and travail,

squeeze her aching

belly and head

beneath the evergreen.

Roots manhandle her.

Then darkness comes.