Child, You Did Not Have<\/p>\n
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Child, How you floated, and grew: Abruptly, you, in your sea began to drift; Child, No ashes to cast, Child, I loved you. <\/p>\n “Child, You Did Not Have” previously appeared in the chapbook, Reply of Leaves<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(Magic Mountain Publishing, 2002).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Linda M. Robertson has lived outside of Winthrop, WA, up the Chewuch Valley for over 25 years. Her chapbook Reply of Leaves<\/em><\/a> was published in 2002. She is currently a Low-Residency MFA Candidate at Chatham University, Pittsburgh and working on a collection of poems inspired by visual art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Child, You Did Not Have Child, you did not have much of life: seven days times ten, all the while swimming \u2014a minute amphibian in fetal waters, xxxxxxthe primeval sea within me. How you floated, and grew: formed fists … Continue reading
\nyou did not have much of life:
\nseven days times ten,
\nall the while swimming
\n\u2014a minute amphibian in fetal waters,
\nxxxxxx<\/span>the primeval sea within me.<\/p>\n
\nformed fists and feet; dark eyes
\nthat would never see beyond the placenta
\nto which you were moored by the pulsing cord,
\nas your diminutive heart
\nxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<\/span>beat.<\/p>\n
\nas if the anchor
\nxxxxxxxxxxxxx<\/span>gave way.
\nOn convulsive waves
\nyou slipped from me.<\/p>\n
\nyou did not have much of life:
\nI never felt you quicken or kick, did not
\ngrow sore from heel or elbow beneath my ribs
\n\u2014you never gasped for air.<\/p>\n
\nno small grave to visit and tend\u2014
\nnothing to mark your beginning, your brief becoming,
\nxxxxx<\/span>and end.<\/p>\n
\nI was your mother each moment of your life;
\nxxxxxx<\/span>my never-born, my littlest one.<\/p>\n