Shannon K. Winston

The Newborn

Barely 5 lbs 8 oz,
she sleeps before me
and snores through
her half-open mouth.
She clenches her
tiny palms.
Tight chest, fisted heart;
tight tight—
sweat trickles down
her cotton onesie.
She furrows her brow, soggy
with worry and sadness.
She will spend a lifetime
confusing those feelings.
I want to undo these lessons for her.
No one will want to hold
this sticky, too-clingy baby,
especially in summer
when the air
sags around her.
How do I teach her love?
Her face, my face.
I would recognize her anywhere.

Shannon K. Winston’s book, The Girl Who Talked to Paintings (Glass Lyre Press), was published in 2021. Her individual poems have appeared in Bracken, Cider Press Review, On the Seawall, RHINO Poetry, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers and lives in Bloomington, IN. She is an avid cheesecake fan!