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Irish twins* run in my family
Kids coming back to back
Decades spent in maternity clothes
my grandmother knows
I Love Lucy's two beds
was the birth control of old

"To have and to hold"
taking on a new meaning

I couldn't fathom
abs expansion before muscles could contract
my nana's muumuu testimony
of the misery of that

Stuck in virtual seclusion
walking waddled
sharing teats
...and Grandpa treats
more than I could stomach, me thinks

That’s a real wombman

Twelve children delivered
in a 4-poster bed
same spot of lost maidenhead
She said,
peace only for the dead

and her bible became her prayer

I wonder had they ever simply kissed and caressed
without her feeling stressed
Had she had to scold as his lips stole of her breasts
precious milk needed for babies?

I'd have said,
Take me, too
but when he asked, "what?"
I'd say, no - not you

I'm speaking to whatever essence listens

My modern, older eyes
now wondering if the coolness I'd detected
was her fear of reconnection
...em-bedding itself
in their subconscious

controlling the birthing of life
by killing the life inside
I never saw the love
until they both died

My grandfather out living she,
saying "bury me by her side
where I’ll be happy”



***NOTE: Irish Twins are siblings born within same year; less than a year apart in age.***