Right From the Start

We learn it right
from the start. Some people
might say we crash into life
as parasites, tethered
to our mothers
with a rubber hose,
but those people forget
that parasites die
when their teeth are removed
from the soft bite
of swollen breasts.
We do not crash.
We explode from nothing,
growing out from our own
little pockets like cancer.
We learn it right
from the start. We tear ourselves
in half over and over again
to get bigger. Eventually
our creations become
heavy change in our pockets
and we are spent,
exchanged, kicked around
on busy streets, lost
into the alleys
of the poor and sick.
This is where we become
parasites. Eating half-eaten
mysteries like we need them,
living within our heads
because rent is cheap, latching
onto swollen breasts
when starvation begs us to.
What happened to cancer?
Why aren't we all five-hundred feet tall
and splitting ourselves
like firewood, splintering
the world with our torn hearts?
After all, we learn it
right from the start.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

we always go back to the breast...reliance on the mother...after being out on our own, tearing ourselves away to be independent, we sooner or later find we still need that sustenance to keep us going...we never quite shake that rubber hose...it almost becomes like the idea of a bungi cord...that pulls us to it and pushes us away at the same time.

deep insight attached to this really wonderfully done poem.

[Earthy Mumma Soul]

its pretty awesome writing

[Emily B]

like exploding fireworks on the 4th of July, you are right there

[tressa]

this is really raw and i like the mystery that remains within it.....artistic