Jessica Khailo
Sure enough,
I opened my eyes and saw that great light
and I saw what I thought I would see.
The womb is an ending for the sake of beginnings.
A union stretched and dissipating,
held fast to the spheres by the firmament.
I think of the souls my garden has watered,
who compressed my lungs and pushed my bladder.
How I forced them from comfort
out into a somehow smaller world
and told them to be separate.
Taught them as their first lesson:
This is simply how it is.
This is what it means to finally become
Somebody Else.
But, I hope we can find forgiveness
in causing the first of their kicks and their screams
for our own mothers
who bade us each, “descend,
become a fraction.”
An intoxicating moment of Divine recognition
is enough to sustain the terrestrial
when none of us want to be Somebody Else.
We want to be God again.
And so, sure enough,
I have opened my eyes and have seen that great light
and I know why I keep coming back here.
***
Jessica Khailo lives in the state of Washington with her husband, two children, and one very good dog. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys complaining on walks through the woods, knitting, creating dodgy artwork, and singing her heart out like no one is listening. Her work has appeared in The Citron Review.