Shayla Marie Poet Free verse

A Mother in the Shape of an Ewe

A mother sheep lays down to feed
       She is in the spotlight
       The heat burns her eyes, Her time has come
The tyranny of motherhood consumes her
     Unsolicited echoes of her once unbound soul
     Her life is now theirs, an inevitable symptom
Mindlessly latching what once was her own
Her heart became theirs, bleeding it dry

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Alison A Smith September 28, 2026 at 7:00 PM A striking, spare free-verse poem that uses the ewe’s body as a powerful vessel for maternal depletion, grief, and the erosion of selfhood. The uneven visual spacing creates a sense of pressure and dislocation, while images such as “the spotlight,” “tyranny,” and a heart “bleeding… dry” give the piece an unflinching emotional intensity.🐑❤️