Meg McManama
poetry
Meg McManama is a PhD candidate at the University of North Texas and has an MFA from Brigham Young University. Her pieces are published or forthcoming in Poets.org, Prairie Schooner, Pleiades, Western Humanities Review, and elsewhere. She teaches writing in Texas.
Holy Pregnancy Sonnet I
“Birth: Old English byrðen, bur- of *ber-an to bear v.1, burden.” - Oxford English Dictionary
Break me down, baby boy. I want to know
you more. Tickle my nose, grab the bell
of my throat, watch me unearth myself. Bleed
me, tree me, spindle your limbs in me. Inhabit
my core: rib, lung, mist & cloud, satchel
of mush & mesh, O, here’s your room, a little
womb, a wet galaxy for you–my yolk,
my seed & sapling, seashell & mussel,
caterpillar & chrysalis, globe &
distant sun. Hold tight to this veined branch, my
little lugnut. You’re spirit boy, trailing clouds
of glory, Oh dust me divine & slip right through.
They’ll cut you free, dear boy. Each day you’ll
doddle further from me–God, bless me to bear it.
“ This poem was written during my third pregnancy while I was at the end of my PhD program. I was wrestling with the gift and burden of pregnancy. As I wrote this, I tried to tap into John Donne's language and wrestling in his Holy Sonnets, and Mark Jarman's imitation and playfulness in his Unholy Sonnets. ”
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