Discussion board 3 Genesis Romero

Abortions will not let you forget.
You remember the children you got that you did not get,   
The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,   
The singers and workers that never handled the air.   
You will never neglect or beat
Them, or silence or buy with a sweet.
You will never wind up the sucking-thumb
Or scuttle off ghosts that come.
You will never leave them, controlling your luscious sigh,   
Return for a snack of them, with gobbling mother-eye.
I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children.
I have contracted. I have eased
My dim dears at the breasts they could never suck.
I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized
Your luck
And your lives from your unfinished reach,
If I stole your births and your names,
Your straight baby tears and your games,
Your stilted or lovely loves, your tumults, your marriages, aches, and your deaths,
If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths,
Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.   
Though why should I whine,
Whine that the crime was other than mine?—
Since anyhow you are dead.
Or rather, or instead,
You were never made.
But that too, I am afraid,
Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said?   
You were born, you had body, you died.
It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.
Believe me, I loved you all.
Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you
All.

The poem “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks is about abortions. in the first stanza, the mother is speaking to other mothers that have had abortions as well. she refers to them as “you” she talks about the pros and cons that she thinks about after her abortion and what other mothers may also be thinking about. she refers to the children as “the singers and workers that never handled the air.” (4) here she is thinking of what the aborted kids could’ve become if they had been born. they could’ve grown up and become something great but they weren’t given the chance. she also said, “you will never neglect or beat them… you will never win up the sucking thumb or scuttle off ghosts that come.” (5-8) here she said that since they were never born there is no way for you to hurt them or let them down. you won’t experience the stresses of motherhood, but you’re also missing out on the good moments like protecting them and your kid seeing you as their hero and safe place from ghosts and monsters under their beds.

In stanza 2, the mother is no longer addressing us with the word” you” and she is not speaking generally. she now uses “I” to change the perspective to the first person. she said, “I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children.” (11) this line has a lot to unpack. firstly, she said that she can hear the voices of her kids, this can mean that she thinks about the abortion often and she may regret it. it’s a haunting experience for her. Secondly, the use of the words “children” and “voices” implies more than one. perhaps it was more than one pregnancy that she terminated or she was pregnant with multiples and aborted them all in one go. lastly, she said that the children were killed but she doesn’t say that she killed them. this takes the blame away from herself: most likely to make her guilt less painful.

She then said, “I have said, sweets, if I sinned, if I seized your luck…” (14) here she is speaking to the children. the use of the word “if” implies uncertainty. the mother is showing some guilt and/or regret: likely second-guessing the choice she already made. The mother then talks about experiences the children will never get. such as being born, being named, crying, laughing, loving, aches and pains, getting married, and even death: which is essentially the circle of life in any human’s life. she feels guilt thinking of the experiences she took away from them. Towards the end of stanza 2, she appears to be questioning things in her mind. she said, ” since anyhow you are dead. or rather, or instead, you were never made.” (25-28) she wonders if she actually killed anyone since the fetuses were not fully developed anyways. she wonders if that counts as a crime.

In the final stanza, which is only 3 lines long, she said, “Believe me, I loved you all. Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you all.” (30-32) The mother seems to be begging her unborn children to believe that she loved them. her use of the word “all” confirms that it was more than one child. her repetition of this line gives it significance, almost like a sense of desperation for them to believe that she’s not a monster or a criminal. this quote also shows that although she wasn’t pregnant for long, she grew to love the fetuses. this poem shares the reality of abortions for some women. the anxiety of wondering if you made the right decision, if you’re a bad person because of it, the guilt that can eat away at you. it also shows that having an abortion doesn’t mean there is no love in your heart for those babies and that guilt and anxiety doesn’t mean you made a bad choice.

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