Womb
Valley
It's not the warmest womb
I've ever experienced
Especially now,
With the temperature
Dipping with the last of the leaves.
And I don't
like the way that the term,
Womb Valley,
implies a coming out,
a not being able to stay forever.
It is exclusive
Special apart,
Demanding separate,
Confining severed,
Inclusive another reality.
I resent it
when visits Outside
show me my niece
growingupveryquickly
before my eyes and behind my back
I appreciate
it when I hear
radio's Bell Cellular phone-ins
pointing out troubled
traffic accident spots in Ottawa
or when I think of sleeping under a roof
under starless,
deficient skies,
parallel parking, commuting
and doing lunch
And especially when,
in the middle of the flats
I feel
ap ar to fit
al l.
Adrian Hoad-Reddick