30 Poems in 30 Days - Day 10
a delivery/arrival

Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett

The envelope was so tough
I realised this was a topic
that needed a lot of protection.

The book itself has a fragile aura
the pages roughcut and low gsm.
No need for a bookmark: the cover
folds in, like hands, protecting
a newborn, lightly holding.

I begin to see new ways of relating
my story, relating to my story, letting
the story learn to speak, teaching me
to speak its language; it has broken
out of the swaddling, to walk and sing.

I hold its hand, but it is I who stumble.
It is throwing a tantrum in the supermarket.
It wants, it wants, to be allowed.