Diana Darby ** "I V" ** Intravenous

Diapers and Gin

Who cares
that you’ve got nothing to wear?
“Not I,”
said the little red hen
who clucked and prattled on in the sun
in search of seed for her bread.
Go tell your problems
to someone who cares.
You who nurse
and bathe and wash
and pretend that motherhood and marriage
is everything.
Now that your nipples bleed
and your hands are cracked from washing bottoms
and bottles,
how does your garden grow?
You
who said they would make
you the woman you’ve never been,
look what you’ve become.
Bedraggled,
befuddled,
a lifeless corpse walking down grocery store aisles
in search of diapers and gin.
Your body
sagging
and drained.
Your eyes
dark circles of endless nights
and tears.
Where is your smile now?
You who proclaimed motherhood your salvation,
is it still all that you thought it would be?