This past week, helping to coax a new baby into the world, I beamed her images of some of the things waiting for her, like her first ice cream cone. The smell of lily of the valley in spring. Maple leaves turned fiery in autumn. Cotton sheets hung in the sun. A porch swing. Ferdinand the little Spanish bull, who didn’t want to fight. A great green room with a telephone and a red balloon. The cocoon of love that would surround her. In trying to reassure her that the world isn’t all chaos and cruelty, I ended up reassuring myself.

little astronaut, by J. Hope Stein

a newborn rests her head on the earth of mother.
everything else is outer space.

Click here for more information about J. Hope Stein. This poem is from her collection little astronaut, published in 2022 by Andrew McMeel Publishing.

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