Toni Gardner
Newborn
Crushing incarnadine, weighty, rushing, flooding and flowing in rivulets down my thighs; nestling in the corners of my father's yellowed sports socks, tainted water spiraling down the drain to parts unknown – guts hollow; fist pushed through to my spine where she used to be before sharp cries bounced off sterile walls, before they laid her pink wet alien life on my concave belly, before they whisked her away and hung the anonymous words "baby girl" on a strange basinet, before I collapsed weak-kneed and wailing, pummeled by scalding water and the reality that in the morning I would drive away with her in the rear view mirror; objects so much smaller than they appeared.
Bio
Toni Gardner lives in Southern California with her wife and their three dogs. She loves poetry almost as much as she loves them. Her work has appeared in Amaze: A Cinquain Journal and Concise Delight.