Baby Finding


from the ABC set Queen of the North

Baby Finding

Under dripping Gunnera Mantica
shivering with cold
at the end of the garden by the compost
she squats like a frog baby
or sits silently on smudged waste ground
in pajamas, sucking her thumb
The bigger girls sit on lost curbs
in strange suburbs
bewildered by unfamiliar light
dumb,numb but with life still in them
Mothers dream
of asking their own child to take the little hand
moving slowly , speaking kitten
blanket them, , wrap them, sit with them
offer juice and cookies
or if they could lead them ,to lead them
to the phone to call home
tell someone
found

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