Coping strategies
With the neon-splashed night at the window
I counted each contraction down, obediently,
as my mother had told me to do.
Ninety-eight, ninety-seven…
This instruction reminds me of my friend’s advice:
if you’re ever in public and about to cry,
first try naming all five members of Take That,
then move on to Girls Aloud.
Then there is the trick of crossing your arms
to confuse a hurt, so it can’t tell where to go;
but this I haven’t tried.
Anyway, it all fades.
Today I can barely describe the grips of labour,
go months without tears.
My distractions are numerous and beautiful –
a toddler’s mania, a baby’s changing weather –
in two years I’ve gained two children,
and lost my father and mother.
Sometimes I call softly across to the pain:
hold on, don’t go without me.
Anna Lewis‘s most recent poetry collection is In Passing (Pindrop Press 2019). She lives in Cardiff with her family. annalewispoetry.wordpress.com