I am so pleased and grateful to share that four of my poems will be featured on Mamazina.com’s blog over the course of the next three weeks. The series will be presented one piece at a time on Sundays, with yesterday being the first. Each piece will focus in some way on early loss, particularly miscarriage and stillbirth.
“Sustaining,” which originally appeared in my chapbook, Lemonade & Rumors, is the first of the series. It was written while I was pregnant with my second child, before I had experienced any early birth or loss personally. In this short piece, I used some irregular line spacing and breaks. It is asymmetrical as well, all of which I did with intent … for no particular reason at the time. Looking at the piece now, I think it helps to convey the disjointedness I wanted to express: No, life isn’t easy or fair or balanced, and, no, there’s not always a reason we can understand. While some women try desperately to conceive and carry a child, others might be overwhelmed to find themselves expecting “another unplanned baby.”
With this piece, I hope to express that we are all touched by miscarriage and early loss, even if we don’t know it. For every woman who isn’t ready for the baby she is carrying, there’s another who is praying for one of her own.
With that in mind, I pray that any woman considering abortion would instead consider giving her baby a chance to be placed in a loving home through adoption.
Peace,
Julie