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Emerging, Art of
Check the box that best describes
your career thus far, the form says, or how you see
yourself as a writer.
It seems I’ve been emerging
for a number of years now. But how do I see
myself - tunneling down the dark fleshy corridor
of my mother’s cervix covered in ick, my slippery
soft skull bones mashed, intent on the drowning
sounds and the wreath of light ahead, finally emerging
to my first strident yawp?
And from that moment hence the steady
march of metamorphosis,
of emerging and becoming.
What must the torpid caterpillar do to emerge
from its glistening chrysalis a laurel-crowned monarch?
The worm digests itself. The lowly pupa
writes itself off in hopes of emerging
a butterfly laureate.
Self-immolation, it seems, is a requirement
for emerging.
So when you knock at the majestic doors, be prepared
for bleeding knuckles and a tamped
down spirit, be prepared to extinguish
yourself in a phoenix fire before you can emerge.
Established.
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Published in Mom Egg Review Vol. 16: Mothers Work/Mothers Play