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Harbinger, a poem by Susanna Childress

Harbinger
     by Susanna Childress

The child
came slick and fast
and split her skin
in the water where
she bobbed and breathed
him down, in the tub
of true water, the woman
saying, That’s it,
That’s it. A man
caught this baby’s
body with his palms,
held up the thing
they call Son and inside
her heart the boar
with its tusks
speared a star and nobody
on this planet spoke
its sorrow, its gobs of light
pooling in her
mouth.

Susanna Childress has published two collections of poetry and is now at work on a book of creative nonfiction titled "Extremely Yours." Her work can be found or is forthcoming from The Rumpus, Fourteen Hills, Crazyhorse, Iron Horse Literary Press, Rhino, Relief, and Oakland Review. She grew up in southern Indiana.