Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TOUCH, by TREVOR WEST KNAPP


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TOUCH, by                    
First Line: We speak of the pain of childbirth, referring
Subject(s): Birth; Child Birth; Midwifery


We speak of the pain of childbirth, referring,
of course, to the mother, but what is pain
to the mother, the one through whose body
the course unwinds? She understands already
what kind of world she must return to,
how it daily hones its many edges
against human skin, unlike the child whose
untried limbs inch toward it, pressing now
so firmly against her he feels for the first time
the pinch of bone against bone and is seared
by the friction. Isn't he the one
on whom the real burden falls, the one
to whom resilience means nothing yet? His
tender skin like a small measure of cloth
unfolding before the blade under which
he will, for a lifetime, bruise
and heal: Crush of the long descent, grip
of the steadying hands, brush of breath
against cheek, even the constant barrage
of the microscopic, the tiny plink-plink
of the dust motes knocking against him
before custom makes him numb to it. No wonder
the startled mouth cries out,
each pore suddenly hungry
in the withering, nourishing light.


Copyright (c) 2001 by The Modern Poetry Association.
This poem appears in the August 2001 issue of Poetry Magazine.
http://www.poetrymagazine.org





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