To Be A Mother

To be a mother

So tired and dizzy I can't stand up, can't walk straight

I lost a piece of myself when I welcomed you into my arms

so bloody and new

You weren't the only one

Somehow re-emerged, you're crying crying crying

Crying crying still crying because who is this stranger with my face and voice

Loving you so crazy, my God, you smile like the heavens

I know it was no accident they sent me you

Too soon

Right on time

You're divinely aligned

You're all mine

You're sunshine out of rhymes

The point, you're perfect it's perfect

Your toes, no your hair, no the smell on the back of your neck,

no your laugh, no your eyes, no your snuggles no

This new body expanded and yet still I fear I am unable to

hold the magnitude of you in my heart

Sweet boy, oh God, by some design you have made me a mother

And I don't know

If I will ever recover

Me

This image depicts the mother, Desiree’ Yumi, greeting her child just moments after she had been inducted into Alpha Kappa Delta, the International Sociology Honor Society.

Unfortunately, the child (also known as Budda) did not care for Sociology or honor societies and was very much ready to go.

Desiree’ is a passionate writer, researcher, and full-spectrum doula.

She lives in Texas with her husband and two children. She was most recently published in, Yemoja’s Tears: An Anthology of Water, Bodies and Bodies of Water, in The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.

IG: divinelyalignedhhh, desiyumia