Breath & Shadow

Cement

by Esté Yarmosh

            For Naomi

I wanted a child,

But she didn’t come. 

You have a lovely little girl here.

They didn’t tell me you’d be deaf and

Fucked up.

God didn’t say so either.

In ancient Greece,

I would have had you

Exposed, as Oedipus was --

Stranded in an open place,

So Nature would swallow you.

But he was a king –

He needed to live. 

You will be no queen.

How could I have gotten

This female Quasimodo?

Your shriveled fist is cement,

Clamped down,

A floppy slab at my touch.

 Your hands are hooks,

Claws,

Your fingers are spider legs,

Not wine glass stems.

I sink your head below water.

God, please take her back.

The bubbles rise.

No one wants you.

The bubbles stop.

 Especially not me.

Este Yarmosh holds a B.A. in English from Eastern Connecticut State University and she is currently studying for a Master's degree in English at Simmons College.  She has Cerebral Palsy.  Este's work has appeared in Danse Macabre.