New Mother - Jeet

This is a poem of a new mother reuniting sexually with her beloved. It is written against the backdrop of the physical ordeal women go through in the act of birth.

Since the birth, the mother's body has undergone changes. As they are kissing on the bed, her breasts, swollen with milk, soak her shirt.The moist feeling and the odour make her uncomfortable. She is in pain even, from the actual birth. The cesarean section has surely been a painful and physically taxing experience. As a new mother, she says she doesn't know that "you'll be healed again, better than before". If I may take the liberty of making an interpretation, I think there's more to this line than meets the eye. While medically, indeed the skin stitched after an incision does heal to be stronger than before, what she means is that a woman really comes into herself as a mother. It is womanhood's crowning moment.

So there she lies in bed with him, in discomfort and pain. While she senses his desire, she knows he loves her and will treat her with understanding and with patience. Its a delightful simile when she likens him to someone who stays with a wounded animal until it is healed and can run again.

Sharon Olds powerfully conveys the anxiety of a new mother's sexuality and the man's role in supporting her through it.