KA Rees #6 - Adam's apple

Adam’s apple

For Kerri 

All of that time and time

and lack / respite then

mountains of Kilimanjaro

Kangchenjunga Manaslu

Everest Mauna Kea

you were finally plonked on

my breast. I, shocked. Are you

sure she is meant for me? This

blind thing, with little fists and

tiny nails already scratching

my skin. This infant with black

eyes and a smell at once foreign

and deeply, hopefully

familiar. I had no idea what to do,

other than what the nurses said, skin

to skin contact was what she

needed to regulate her breathing

and she smelt her way to my

breast, her small fist kneading

the flesh to get what she required.

II

I would surely wash

away,

like a sudden freak tide

had blown up

and pulled me into it.

It would be

a wonder after all of this, if there were any

of me left.

After of days of not sleeping, each

hour feeling

the length of a week. I began to dream

waking, dream

that I was still sleeping,

I got annoyed, then furious at a paper cut. That

after all

of that pain, it was still possible to feel the sting

of a thing

so small.

What was the point of this pain, other than

some echo

from a religious text that all women

must wear this

original sin. Give me that apple I said,

Adam

should walk

with a wider stance.