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    Limbo Babies: A Poetic Memoir
    Limbo Babies: A Poetic Memoir
    Limbo Babies: A Poetic Memoir
    Ebook136 pages40 minutes

    Limbo Babies: A Poetic Memoir

    By JJ Goss

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Everything is a poem. Nothing is safe. Limbo Babies is a poetic journal based on memories of a life once thought to be normal.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateJan 15, 2018
    ISBN9781543921878
    Limbo Babies: A Poetic Memoir

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      Book preview

      Limbo Babies - JJ Goss

      Aftermath

      Delivering the Babies

      I have a feeling

      in the place

      where once babies rocked

      secured in the car seat

      of my womb

      again, they wake me

      at night

      wet and hungry for attention

      it’s been a long time since I was

      the unloved child

      a misbehaving mommy

      bad wife

      your life

      is too good now

      the editor said

      I’m losing it

      my sharp edge

      broken glass

      left on the floor

      nothing more

      than a shattered mess

      waiting for a broom

      I let them go

      I didn’t follow

      no longer wanting to collect

      shards of shame

      and defiance

      but I couldn’t ignore it

      the kicking

      that woke me up at night

      checking the watch

      between contractions

      legs spread

      baring down

      in preparation

      and ready now

      once again

      time to push hard

      and deliver my babies

      Nesting

      They were nestled together

      inside each other

      one brightly painted body

      designed to contain another

      all but the tiniest one

      This one is not empty

      You cannot take her apart

      She has not been hollowed out

      She is solid

      She is whole

      but so very tiny

      she’s easily lost

      Mom Wore Glasses Like Jackie O

      Mom Wore glasses like Jackie O

      She had a camera face

      She had pedal-pusher legs

      She served drinks

      in metal tumblers

      of silver, gold and green

      Her door was open

      just enough

      for a tiny crack of light

      to fall

      on the blankets

      rising and falling in time

      with the clock on the dresser

      by the phone

      Mom said her hands

      didn’t work in the morning

      She said her head ached

      for the dark

      Her veins were clogged

      with blood and tonic

      but there were sequined dresses

      in the closet

      a tiara wrapped in paper

      inside a chest of hope

      a box filled with strings of beads

      and memories

      tangled

      broken

      In the shadows of her room

      a cast of bottles performed

      this time the Queen of Chanel

      and the King of Old Spice

      are giving it one more chance

      They had called off the attorneys

      and were now holding

      their tiny Bird of Paradise

      She will be different

      they said

      as they walked her over the cracked mirror

      She will fix our world

      My mother had flamingo lips

      She had a say cheese smile

      the kind that always left behind

      tiny specks of brilliant color

      on her straight white teeth

      Disobedience

      No one knew she was expecting

      even at the end

      she said smiling

      and proud never to allow

      anything to show

      My sister pulled on her face

      trying to turn her attention

      in another direction

      but she was made of Play-Doh

      and small fingers barely made a dent

      that couldn’t be smoothed away later

      or molded into something

      we would never recognize

      The words in books

      moved through her lips

      as she read aloud

      in a stranger’s voice

      We’d never understand

      the cryptic messages

      and could only search for her

      on every page

      The high heeled shoes outside the window

      on a rainy day

      The disobedient mother

      running off to the places

      she was not allowed to go.

      In the middle of the night

      in the room thick with menthol

      and my head as big as the moon

      She told me of heaven

      and I told her I wanted to go there

      right now

      An Unexpected Savior

      After the argument

      she covered the walls

      in melancholy colors

      papered them with glue

      and fields of flowers

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