Maryam Shadmehr
Breastfeeding Tea Tag: New Mothers Are Newborns Too

Flesh ripping off, bones
cracking. “God!”
Fingernails digging
through the skin
on Daddy’s arm.
“Crowning,” we’re informed.

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In a shower of blood,
living tissue, and skin,
with slimy fluid
stuck in your hair,
your cry relieves
my howl and pain.

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Plopped on my chest,
you squirm like a squirrel.
And suckle on my nipple.
Pressure in my breast,
numbness in my groin,
placenta’s pulled out.

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Calmed by your touch,
I cling to you, you to me:
An infinite loop of mothering.
The cord is cut.
An alien me
is reborn from you.