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BIRTH ON PLANET GRAVITY short poem in Genghis Lotus Poetry Collection, a selection of poems free to read online. The Genghis Lotus poems are hosted at two locations, genghislotus.com and zenvirus.com/genghis-lotus/. Webmaster for both sites is poet Hugh Cook, born in Britain, educated in New Zealand, and the author of, amongst other works, the fantasy series Chronicles of an Age of Darkness.
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I had always thought of birth As a catastrophe: Forced from the world of constant warmth and water To the harsh scrubbed air of Planet Gravity. Unhooked from the umbilical, displaced From immortal complacency To the slaughterhouse of light. Jumbled by shapes, lost In the gesticulating air. Severed from the reference frame, Bewildered, baffled, Screaming at fluorescents. And this birth, yes, Was like that, Only harder, bloodier, more terrifying Than the extremes of my imagination. I used to dream, years ago, (I had forgotten those dreams) Of my own birth, An endless crushing pressure, Darkness compressed upon darkness, The infinite constrictions of nowhere Inflicting identity upon me. And this birth, I think, Was like that. But what delights me about Miss Mutiny (A bundle of wriggles As yet pinned down by gravity) Is how comfortably she Inhabits her face, her features — How relaxed her ease, as if To be pure human was effortless. |
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May be photocopied for classroom use |
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