9. Brothers Before Sisters
Brothers Before Sisters
It was my brothers
who were born next
of my mother’s womb.
By then, I was old enough
to help with their births
alongside my aunts.
I had grown from
an unruly and free childhood
into a more wary girlhood.
Every birth after my own
happened in multiples.
Like the fish she nurtured,
my mother gave birth
to schools of children.
Five brothers arrived at once.
My aunts and I had just
enough hands to catch
and wash them all.
While the women worked,
the male Gods celebrated
with cups full of nectar.
Theirs was an easy task.
To get drunk, eat well,
and simply wait.
I resented their laughter,
their easy conversation
while my mother laboured
and my aunts and I
held her hands,
cooled her forehead,
helped her through
the difficult task
of birthing new life.
It was a messy act,
bringing children
into this world.
All that ichor,
the golden Gods’ blood,
that was spilled,
my mother’s screams
as the tiny bodies
of my crying brothers arrived.
I shuddered as I lifted
one of them up.
He gazed up at me
with clear green irises.
He looked more
like my parents
than I ever had.