[I aborted two daughters]

by Diane Seuss

Diane Seuss

I aborted two daughters, how do I know they were girls,
a mother knows, at least one daughter, maybe one
daughter and a son, will it hurt I asked the pre-abortion
lady and she said, her eyes were so level, I haven't been
stupid enough to need to find out, cruel but she was right,
I was and am stupid, please no politics, I've never gotten
over it, no I don't regret it, two girls with a stupid penniless
mother and a drug-addict father, I don't think so, I shot
a rabbit once for food, I am not pristine, I am not good,
I am in no way Jesus, I am in no way even the bad Mary
let alone the good, though I have held my living son
in the pietà pose, I didn't know at the time I was doing it
but now that I look back, he'd overdosed and nearly died,
my heart, he said, his lips blue, don't worry, I've paid.

From: 
Frank: Sonnets





Last updated March 11, 2023