Natasha Sinclair
The hand strikes
A forgettable second
Within a minute of infinities
A single beat
The heart stops
Unknowing, silence befell within
Maybe yesterday
A bustling room, waiting
A bed on a register
Ice-cold gel
Smiles convert to frowns
Twin mask
I already know
Before the backup arrives
The child is gone
Dead inside the fluid of life
Everything stops
The hand keeps ticking
More minutes
Other rooms
Happier stories
Floating deceased
In my belly remained
Bodies reluctant to depart
Tear apart
Keep her in
Maybe life will begin again
It was a pause
A monitor fault
A technical blip
Chest tightens
Throat clams shut
Tears won't cease
Beneath the duvet
Fort of solitude
Alone
Grief spreading from belly to bone
One last weekend
Of motherhood pretend
Viscous connection
Umbilical short circuit
My belly her deathbed
Many strikes later
The hours had fallen away
Empty cotton cave
Just us
No heartbeat still
No rush to move
I could've held her there forever
Chemical help swallowed
Washing away
The static infinity
Another day
Another dose
Grief and planning ahead
Terms aired before taking the bed
Alter of birth
In that other room
Hidden from coos
Expectant cries
Life to life
Mine was the room
Of quietus
For the mother of death
Me
As I always knew
As I had been before
In another place
Another time
Another father
Here I was now
Mother of death again
My terms they'd meet
Another pain for later
Pacification for the morning shift
My mourning moon
The contractions
Too soon
Too late
Pregnancy infraction
This labour of death
Babe's birth unto death
Ultimate labour of love
Combusting a broken star
Then she was there
Stillborn silent
The hand struck
A mallet to a gong
The child is gone
Another moment
Rooting time
Nothing and everything
I know where I was then
As is this day
With every score
She was no more
And evermore
My sweet tiny girl
Embossed in flesh
How I held her after
Within my clammy palms
Tattooing her existence
From one bleary orb to the other weary
Sinking into dark silence
The void sucking me in
One night of her
Held in mother's hands
Eyes burned
Taking her in
Her translucent skin
The curves of her mouth
Fine fingers ten
My jelly baby star
The child is gone.
Clan Witch & Word Refinery 