Poem: "Scarier Than Marriage"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This is today's freebie, inspired by a prompt from gingicat. It also fills the "fear" square in my 6-4-18 Dark Fantasy card for the Winteriron Bingo Adventure fest.


"Scarier Than Marriage"


Becoming parent is
scarier than marriage --
you don't know who you're
letting into your life for
the next 18 years, and
there is no divorce if
it doesn't work out.

Some people go into it
with lofty aspirations of
pink-and-blue nurseries
only to find out that parenting
isn't all puppies and kittens.

It involves falling in love,
but like romance, sometimes
it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Some people go into it
with a sense of adventure,
looking forward to whatever
the relationship brings.

So it's really more like
an arranged marriage,
where both people have
similar life goals that they
can approach together,
but it takes a lot of work.

When the child arrives
with a disability, all plans
and expectations are upended --

but not necessarily ended.

The success of the family lies
in the parents' ability to face
what seems impossible,

to turn the feeling of
"This is NOT what I
signed up for!"

into the realization
that having a baby
means signing up for

whatever you get.

Comments

[gingicat]

I want to send this to everyone who posts the “Welcome to Holland” essay. It’s beautiful.

Thank you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Go for it. Once a poem is posted, it's free for everyone to read and share. If you find it a useful turn of conversation in response to someone's post, use it. That's got to be better than the flamewars common elsenet.

Re: Thank you!

[gingicat]

How would you want to be credited so that people find your other awesome stuff?

Re: Thank you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith on Dreamwidth and LiveJournal.

To make it easier to find my work online, you can link to the Standalone Poems and Serial Poetry pages. There are dozens on the standalone page and hundreds on the serial page. My Poem tag currently has 5635 uses.

[technoshaman]

We're having a bit of this feeling ourselves these days. And yet, we are both determined to do right by both our younglings, for they embody a big chunk of our hope for the world... whatever we can do to live to see that moment when one or both of them come to the microphone and say, not "my fellow Americans," but "my fellow Earthlings"... (oooh, I just realised how inclusive that term is... not just humans, but birds, whales, dolphins, cats, anybody capable of parsing human language...)

No, this isn't what we signed up for... and we may grouse a bit, or even cry a bit, between each other... but we will get it done.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> We're having a bit of this feeling ourselves these days. <<

Aww.

>> And yet, we are both determined to do right by both our younglings, for they embody a big chunk of our hope for the world... <<

Go you!

>> whatever we can do to live to see that moment when one or both of them come to the microphone and say, not "my fellow Americans," but "my fellow Earthlings"...<<

:D So mote that shit.

>> (oooh, I just realised how inclusive that term is... not just humans, but birds, whales, dolphins, cats, anybody capable of parsing human language...) <<

Sooth. The biosphere is One.

>> No, this isn't what we signed up for... and we may grouse a bit, or even cry a bit, between each other... but we will get it done.<<

Then it sounds like you're doing it right.

Re: Thoughts

[technoshaman]

Ooooh. My worlds collide between my ears; I hope no one takes this as blasphemy....

Hear O Biosphere: The Earth thy Mother is ONE.

I should take that a bit further... but I don't have the brain left to wordsmith at the moment. (The idea is that one should care for the earth, and "the second is like unto it, you should love your neighbour as yourself... ALL your neighbours, black, white, purple-polkadotted, two-foots, four-foots, six-foots, hrair, or tentacles, or none atall, and however they choose to identify or associate. Getting the poetry right, and the inclusiveness... is hard.)

Re: Thoughts

[mama_kestrel]

>>Hear O Biosphere: The Earth thy Mother is ONE.<<

May I see what I can do with this?

Re: Thoughts

[technoshaman]

You of all people, Mama, oh HELLYEAH.

Re: Thoughts

[librarygeek]

Ya Shekhinah - is the address for Deity in Jewish Renewal, the Ya from Psalms and Shekhinah means She who dwells among us, a motherly good neighbor. :-D

Still might grab this English phrase and take it to Kallah in July. Balancing Solo and Communal Prayer Practice might be a good group to work on this in Hebrew, then through other languages. :-D

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Ya Shekhinah - is the address for Deity in Jewish Renewal, the Ya from Psalms and Shekhinah means She who dwells among us, a motherly good neighbor. :-D <<

That's a good translation of "biosphere" or "Gaia" there. \o/

>> Still might grab this English phrase and take it to Kallah in July. Balancing Solo and Communal Prayer Practice might be a good group to work on this in Hebrew, then through other languages. :-D <<

Good idea! If you finish it, I would love to see it.

+1

[mdlbear]

Amen to that, brother Bear.