Best Birthing Poems
Writing my first Sonnet was like a pregnancy.
I knew I wanted to give birth to one
and took on the parental responsibility
knowing it wouldn't... or shouldn't take nine months.
There'd been no morning sickness nausea
but there were times when I wanted to change my mind.
"Too bad, kiddo," I thought. "You gotta see this through.
because you can't put Humpty Dumpty back inside his egg
once the shell has cracked and broken."
Determined not to have yet another unfinished poem
take up space in a notebook, I persevered
spoiling myself with ice cream, chocolate fudge slivers,
a few cherries, and a liberal squirt of caramel sauce.
I indulged myself with a reward after the first verse.
I've never liked dill pickles, so when I couldn't find
the right rhyming word for verse two, I didn't eat those.
Pregnancy or not, I wasn't going to suffer puckered lips
because my muse refused to be pregnant with me.
She'd have made a useless midwife anyway.
Said she'd be back when she got a birth announcement.
I suffered alone and pushed this baby out
with the same force a laborious woman uses to birth a child.
No epidural in the spine, although I did partake
in a bottle of wine during the entire nascence process.
"LOOK," I screamed. "After fourteen hours of labor
it's an eight-pound boy."
Actually, it was more like eight hours of labor
to deliver a fourteen-line Sonnet, and lots of anxiety.
I took comfort knowing this baby wouldn't need breast feeding.
Now that it's here, it will be reread a time or ten...
a line edited here or a tweak somewhere.
It will be mollycoddled, burped, and pampered
but not with the naked butt baby kind.
I'll sing it to sleep when I'm the one needing a lullaby,
and I'll be glad it doesn't cry for a two am bottle.
I won't worry about it getting sick or growing up too quickly
because ten years from now it'll still be my baby.
Birthing a child is difficult work but we both survived the labor.
and my firstborn is not crumpled in a basket, lying on the floor.
Poetics Poem, Red River Gorge, KY
I traipse the course of a forking, rambling stream
Barefoot from the rounded top of one small boulder
To another, the slashing strikes of cold water
Startling my every careful leap, place to place,
Landing with deep, short gasps, yet wordless
In an utter joy of intense sensation over sun-sprinkled
Spots so bright against the deep gray hollow splotches of
Drenched stone. The stream does not trickle
Along this gorge, but roars the air and throws
Its echoing roundabout the cliffs like a newborn
Learning its scream forth from being
Buried for years beneath massive storeys on up to
Greater views. But, the stream continues its carving around
The hillside. And the newly-born cries will
Find the voices of self-expression with each gasping
Leap from boulders to cliffs, climbing in a wrapabout
The gorge’s hidden, grand lowlands and rising
Of its own ineffable poetry so fully held within the birthing
Of Nature herself, all that which carries
Of language as spoken
In the heart of God.
**********. **********. **********. **********
(C) sally Young eslinger 10/9/2020
Night…to Morning
————————————-
Very often,
my night hours
Keep awake,
Keep their occurrence
Until morning’s rise,
Keep their words
Under darkness…and
Their poems wait,
Disregarding
Inspiration from
The luminant moon
In favor of the sun’s
birthing day.
I keep my sleep’s
dreams abloom
In the acres of
gently waving,
Vibrant yellow,
Billions of sunflower
Petals
Opened to extend
their beauty into the
Summer’s minuets —
Moving silhouettes —
Along the horizon…
So, so clear, even
To these sleepy eyes,
Through these
glistening tears.
===========
(c) sally young Eslinger 9/8/21
Thanks be to God
Birthing Loving Merciful Trees
Seeking any mercy, found greater peace
every step gifted so very much more
Quest gave my lonely life another lease
ever a pleasure never a sad chore
Every dawn brought another super gift
happy nights, flying in with joyous ease
Birds in flight forever , ever so swift
love springing up, as pretty as you please
Giving thanks for serenity and all
journey concluded, racing quest sent back
Joy answered each and every crying call
acceptance for all that this life did lack
Peace then birthed those loving merciful trees
Joyous fruits answering desperate pleas
Robert J. Lindley (edited 04-05-2015)
Poem Syllable Counter Results
Syllables Per Line: 10 10 10 10 0 10 10 10 10 0 10 10 10 10 0 10 10
Total # Syllables: 140
Total # Lines: 17 (Including empty lines)
Words with (syllables) counted programmatically: N/A
Total # Words: 95
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: A quest I finished long ago.
A poem of the now, looking back at the then.
Love heals all, even a broken hearted man..
This write was inspired by my reading just today ,
Peter Duggan's great poem titled -- Sincerely...
Thank you my friend, you give so much....
Paper whites peek through brown terrain;
the newborns of spring.
Between day lilies tiny weeds sneak by and in another bed,
young tulips return from their slumber
to greet waking irises.
Fruit trees will soon stretch their
bud-heads to brother Sun.
Roses freshen the air with their delicate perfume as,
tiny buds come out to sunbathe.
Spring has sprung!
writers labour pains
crimson from the quill stains...
my poem remains
We put the urn aboard ship
Roots teeming from lavish fields
Yellow bells and peonies birthing soon
As the moon softens its limbs
Brightening the way our vessel rides
Through blissful miles of springtime day.
For Contest Complete The Lines of nette onclaud
Jul 25, 2015 posted by Rhoma Em
Line 5: ‘We put the urn aboard ship.’---- Sappho
'Twas the night before Christmas of sheer delight
As hospital nurses beamed with joyful zest
To cheer mothers in their delivery quest
Assisting them to labor devoid of fright.
Pretty nurse kept singing “Silent Night” midst bliss
Hoping festive serenity to prevail
Against screams of first time moms who did wail
Then “Joy to the World” echoed, no one could miss.
Mindful nurse greeted her patients with smile’s glow
Relieving them from tensions of birthing pains
Humming “Christ the Savior is born” for peace gains
Toward baby-cries announcing blessings’ flow.
Diligent nurse gladly fulfilled duty-vow
Checking temperature and blood pressure rise
In her “Merry Christmas; just relax” advice
“Your precious gift* from God is to arrive now.”
Excited nurse remains jubilant as well
Guessing babes’ names jibing with Christmas time
As “Jessie, Christine, Angelique” of sweet chime
Or “Emmanuel, Joseph, Chris” oh, divine bell.
Expectant nurse gave thankful sigh --- since there she was
Anticipating answers to prayer list
Knowing that God grants best that faith can’t resist…
Then she had bouncing twins that festive Christmas.
*James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
December 12, 2022
1st place, "The Night Before Christmas 3" Rhyme Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Joseph May; judged on 12/23/2022.
There once was a birthing person from Perth
He/She/It battled quite a hefty girth
Couldn't sit, so she squatted
Reputation mud-spotted
But oh man, could she push when she gave birth
My friend said, “Happy Birthing Day!”
I couldn’t help but grin
Because this marks the date in which
My son’s life did begin.
Some memories leap out at me –
I know just what I wore
And the way I woke my brother
As we headed out the door.
He had come to visit, hoping
He’d be there to celebrate
The arrival of his nephew
And he’d not have long to wait.
But before we left, I tapped him
Saying we did not have long.
We were headed to the hospital.
He yelled, “Oh no, what’s wrong?”
“I’m just going to have a baby!”
Then we laughed, for as he woke
He’d entirely forgotten;
It became a family joke.
Hours later we would welcome
To this world our baby boy
Who has, through the years and counting,
Brought a lifetime filled with joy.
A new Path to forge and make
a new Suit of Skin to don
new Task's, in hand to take
a new School of Thought to belong
new Trials and Tribulations to test the way
new Effort's that are held in sway.
The Old now is Done
time of Life, for Another one
then a new Birth to comprehend
a new Death to follow and apprehend
it is but, So to understand
to take Life's song Celestial in hand,
A new Abode, perhaps a new land.
Beautifully wiggling
Baby girl of my life,
Birth from heaven above
Bubbly as mother, I
Believe in angels while
Bright smiles make me quiver,
Bundle of pink, you're mine.
Pleiades--B Contest
Kim Merryman---Aug 17, 2016
When Shall I Be the World's
Star........
Thousand eyes would behold me,
I shall shine to lead and guide
the flowage.........When?....Each
moment is ages to me......
Is my incandescence not full
yet? Or I'm so tiny among the
others?
But where my comrades
vanished in this dark sea?
Dreads me this harbinger of
vane......
I may cease to be before my
luminosity illumine this dark wide
world.....
No, no, no, I'd make heavens
blaze with radiance like a
meteor that to give light melts
even,
Discerning child star thoughts
deing star bequeathed, "The
best fire never flares up the
soonest, It would take you
aeons to born out of black
nebula but thou would survive
till the end of time, thine
orientation is of mortals who
are made of haste, behold that
tiny leaf sized abode there they
isolate with conquered feelings
and boast of the potency
gained through book & pen and
over things ice like durable huh!"
Now I've known what for this
wait to me I'll quench this urge
to overlap the ray of time to
eternity.....
Drop by drop tears fall from my eyes.
Grain by grain sand falls through the glass of time.
What is normal for me may seem far fetched to you
But soon are coming The Days of Doom!
All anger and rage surfacing like a volcano as it gets ready to erupt.
When sh_t hits the fan almost all of you are f__ked.
The creature comforts of solitude will be dead and long gone.
How do you all expect to survive when you can't even get along?
Or do you plan on killing everyone you meet and eating their flesh?
Hey...It's your life homie. Do what you think is best.
Ridicule and turn your back on me will only insure you a long and lonely fight.
My job is to go into darkness saving the lost sparks of Light.
If you pass Light by you will be left behind to rediscover fire.
No more Angels will come. For you believe them to be liars.
There Is A Time To Wait
I know I have filled you with MY explosive power
declares my FATHER, the LORD
but there are still areas in your heart to cleanse and purge away areas a powerful ministry cannot afford.
And I know that you are longing and desire to go
and reach the poor and the lost and dying souls
yet there is plenty of MY time left for you to
reach such honorable and GODLY goals.
But I have a perfect time and in that time
all things I make are made beautiful
so rest child of MINE in your waiting room for it is a part
of MY plan and for you it is dutiful.
Don’t pace back and forth
as the restless and wild do who are of this earth
but rest and praise ME for what you are
about to now give birth.
Keeping your eyes on ME is so essential
as I lead you into your birth canal
then by faith, push this baby of promise
all the way through till its birth is totally final.
Though the way and the process seems to be such
an awfully long and draining time
the product that has been produced through the pressures
and strain will bring such glory to GOD and will also like JESUS shine!
Written by; Marilyn S. Jennings
March 29, 2001