Jen Yáñez-Alaniz
BINDING
an abundance of blood
crimson pulse against breast-fed newborn softness
love-reparation and instinctual lavish of motherhood
the binding ritual of mothers and mothers’ mothers
abuelita takes the cloth and winds it tightly around my hips with
stern insistence of strength she whispers ritual de la cuarentera as rigid
knuckles against my skin pray promise
mother takes up the slack and pulls the binding
taut winding upward toward my ribs
cinched rigid the uterus pressed and held
by muscle against muscle
ligaments and organs
marrow and bone
Binding tightly
what must be bound