In her 2022 collection, So Much Tending Remains, poet Emily Patterson reflected on the first two years of her daughter’s life. In her new collection, The Birth of Undoing, she’s written something of a prequel, what came before those first two years.
Sitting in the waiting room at the fertility clinic, surprised “you knew the rules before you ever walked in” (don’t look at women leaving; keep accidental eye contact brief; don’t bring a toddler with you). The ultrasounds. Imagining what the child looks like at eleven weeks. The physical discomfort (Patterson draws a “self-portrait as not the giantess”), the beginnings of labor. Then she considers those first hours after birth.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.
Some Tuesday Readings
“Sweet and Low,” poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
In My Dream of Emily Bronte – poem by Andrea Potos at Every Day Poems.
Where to Store Secrets That Don’t Belong to You – poem by Heather Cadenhead at Rabbit Room Poetry.
The night cometh – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.
Time Will Tell: Collected Poems by David Middleton – review by Richard Wakefield at New Verse Review.
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