A Few Introductory Remarks

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A FEW INTRODUCTORY REMARKS


It’s not, of course—as we tend to spin

the word—fun. I suppose there might be one


out there who prefers the birthing 

to the birth, but I haven’t found them 


this corner of earth. Here is the thing 

inside, wild and kicking and wanting 


out, and here—yes, here—is the birth canal 

of a ball-point. Get the point? Hope 


is our only anesthetic. Grin and bear it.

Heads down now, bending to your labor


like more worlds than yours depends on it. 

But depend on it: one day, when it walks


off on legs of its own, returning 

to tell you in its own words what it’s seen 


past the margins of this small town—

maybe, even, beyond soil and sky—


                         you’ll know why.


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