23 September 2008

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from The Birth House by Ami McKay,
My house became the birth house. That's what the women came to call it, knocking on the door, ripe with child, water breaking on the porch. First-time mothers full of questions, young girls in trouble and seasoned women with a brood already at home. (I called those babies "toesies" because they were more than their mamas could count on her fingers.) They all came to the house, wailing and keening their babies into the world. I wiped their feverish necks with cool, moist cloths, spooned porridge and hot tea into their tired bodies, talked them back from outside of themselves.*

Such poetry in this book.
*emphasis mine

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i loved this book, too!!

DoulaMomma said...

I'm really enjoying it & also just heard from someone from that part of the world who connected to me through Ami McKay's facebook, which is sort of cool!