I Am Born

I was born a Wednesday’s Child of Woe.

Born the year of nothing-

Before the End-Of-All.

Born 11:52 am, November 21, 2007.

Born within UVM Medical Center - My Green Mountain State.

When I was born, my skin was the color of a summer sky.

My body was so small, preemie diapers climbed up to my armpits.

And when I was born, I smiled with my pinecone head-

And my mother smiled back, 

“I love you”

By my first week of living, I had turned the color of a dandelion sun-

So I lied in a Terrarium Tank,

Sprouting slowly; inching towards life.

Late my first week of living, my skin had turned the color of winter blush.

Finally, my mother held my little body like she'd never let me go.

Finally, home at last.

They say the day of my birth the room ached with love.

My mother tells me;

My Grammy Jan drove through a blizzard of cranes 

My Auntie Tara, the last seven prinks of mom's epidural, on empty

My Nana refused to believe I'd be a Thanksgiving baby 

That my Great Grammy Nancy was the one to guess it right.

Exactly 11:52 am, the 21st of November. 

And I think my grandmother must have been my Guardian Angel…

When I was born my mother sewed my little body like a hand-stitched quilt.

Her whole life wishing to say, “I created something beautiful.”

Her quilt squares cut from what I was to become;

Cut from my first job interview 

Cut from my first day of high school

From the day I left my father 

From my bike without training wheels 

From my Cinderella Princess dress 

My first word

My first step

My first breath-

All cut from the stitches of my mother's heart.

My mother names me Amelia 11:52 am on November 21, 2007.

I am born in my Green Mountain State-

And I am born loved.