Sequence:

Joy of Spring
— a sutra*written on mother's day

the bag of water
bursts within me
I am drenched

every two minutes
the pain so excruciating
a labour

white gloved hands
surround me . . . with each
gasp a grasping breath

cervical dilation
I sense a bundle press
for azadi

at corridor's end
my clenched fists release
the joy of spring birth

*sutra means thread in Sanskrit

Bottle Rockets: issue #28, February 2013