What Do Nurses Know About Life?
A nurse told me today
that new born white males
are the most fragile babies,
maybe on the planet,
and that black babies are the strongest.
“hmmm…” I thought, perhaps only a myth
on the heels of the Black Panther.
Super hero babies born with that distant connection
to the sacred world.
You know about Samoans, right?
We oozed up from mud,
headless worms from the decay of vines
until we breathed in deep
and were given limbs and a mind.
No silver spoon.
No dainty carved cradle.
We were born with paddles in our hands
to cross the amniotic fluid of our dream land.
But then,
Darwin calls it the “preservation of favored races
in the struggle for life.”
Turns out history is on the side of POC,
after all.
If she knows what sheʻs talking about,
that is.
5 thoughts on "What Do Nurses Know About Life?"
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Great creation story in stanza 2. I like how your title and last stanza work against the poem.
“We were born with paddles in our hands
to cross the amniotic fluid of our dream land.”
Stunning line!
this is magnificent! from top to bottom.
Love it
The 2nd stanza is packed with powerful images and language. Love this poem.