Good evening everyone. Welcome to another addition to poetry corner. Tonight I ran across this poem, by accident and I’m glad I did. In honor of Women’s History Month here is a fantastic poet came Mary Ruefle called “Women In Labor.” Enjoy!
Women in Labor
BY MARY RUEFLE
Women who lie alone at midnight
because there is no one else to lie to
Women who lie alone at midnight
at noon in the laundromat
destroying their own socks
Women who lie alone at midnight:
Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates
Women who lie alone at midnight
as the first furl of starlight
pearls the moon with nacre
Women who lie alone at midnight
sending a postcard bearing
the face of a bawling infant
who cries “I am for the new”
Women who lie alone at midnight
reciting the names of shoes
Women who lie alone at midnight
spurting unjustified tears,
the kind that run sideways
never reaching the mouth,
the kind you cannot swallow
Women who lie alone at midnight
singing breast away the burden of my tender
and afterwards burp
Women who lie alone at midnight
obeying the laws of physics
Women who let their dreams curl at the end
Women in a monastery of flamingos
Women who die alone at midnight
contributing to the end, to
lost time, to the rain and flies,
seeing the bird they saw trapped in the airport
surviving by the water fountain
What’s more, try it sometime
It works
KG Bethlehem 