Mothercraft
When I find out I am pregnant
I say dear goddess
please don’t let me become
another fucking mum influencer
if I decide to write a blog
about my hot takes on pregnancy
strike me down
if I suddenly want to write status updates
about the privations of my journey
take my phone
cut off my hands
I stop writing poems
later I write them
but I don’t read them to anyone
or I read them to my husband
and say this is just for us
it's too specific
no one will relate
he agrees
I call it tiresome
bore
clichéd
nothing new
unoriginal
At the poetry night
three men read poems
about fatherhood
the whole room leans in
profound
moving
radical even
for men to say these things
poem to my daughter
man falls in love with daughter
poem for the future
man builds pathways for his next generation
poem to prepare for parenting
man lays past to rest
universal
relatable things
I sit on the couch listening
and a small being somersaults
the va inside me
the space between us
that is inside me
like a small universe
I have built
starless night
or ocean world
I am perfectly still
and silent
Dear goddess
I am pregnant
if I stop myself from speaking again
please take me out the back
and sacrifice me to the patriarchy
cut off my hands
burn me at the stake
tattoo oppression on my forehead
make me speak.
Miriam Barr is an Auckland-based poet with a background in psychology and a long history of collaboration with musicians, visual artists, and other poets. Her work has appeared in literary journals, anthologies, text books, on stage, and in art galleries in Aotearoa NZ and abroad. Her collection, Bullet Hole Riddle was published by Steele Roberts Aotearoa in 2014.
