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Flowers arranged in bottles
Photo by James Cousins on Unsplash

Poetry | January/February 2022

Undelivered

By Maeve McKenna

Today is culling day for the undelivered;
vacuum cupping a hairless skull.
 
I feel you exiting my groin, bit by bit. 
Bundles of puce membrane flop out 
over entrails, squeezing lungs 
through brittle ribcages too shallow 
to bear your breath, too soon to unmother you.
 
Was your face veiled, your belly tethered, 
your cry unslapped? You are only questions.
 
If I could hold you, coax your chest open, 
blood-fill each pulse-less chamber 
and lay it plump as a pillow under mine, I would. 
 
Not within flattened flesh will I mend you;
fuse fontanels, salvage from a bucket
 
your limbs, knit sinew to bone, make you intact 
as you began, offer your fractured heart 
the empty whole of mine.

8 replies on “Undelivered”

Merle Bombardierisays:
January 20, 2022 at 9:51 am

Thank you! Beautiful, heartbreaking, brilliant! Thank you! I’m a psychotherapist and writer who wii share this with those who will be moved.

Reply
Maeve McKennasays:
January 22, 2022 at 2:26 pm

Thank you so much, Merle, for reading and replying. And thank you also for sharing this poem, a poem I for a long time couldn’t revisit but now find comfort in.

Reply
Nola Turnersays:
January 26, 2022 at 2:54 pm

Deeply moving because, though the images are authentic and vivid, your emotions are restrained, yet warm and caring. The last stanza is breathtaking. You are a fine poet Maeve.

Reply
Maeve McKennasays:
January 27, 2022 at 2:15 pm

Gosh, Nola, many, many thanks for this feedback. I really appreciate your close reading and kind comments.

Reply
Barbara DeCoursey Roysays:
January 27, 2022 at 2:33 pm

“You are only questions” breaks me open. A very difficult subject to write about, rarely addressed.You captured both brutal reality and great tenderness.

Reply
Maeve McKennasays:
January 30, 2022 at 3:06 am

Thank you, dear Barbara.

Reply
Shazaf Fatimasays:
January 28, 2022 at 7:22 am

Oh my God, Maeve. This broke me. I had a miscarriage and when you say ‘you are only questions’ – yes, yes, yes. i’m sending you so much love for writing this. Heart full, heart empty.

Reply
Maeve McKennasays:
January 30, 2022 at 3:07 am

Thank you, dear Shazaf.

I am returning your love with gratitude and caring. Thank you for this feedback,

Reply

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