Diana Darby ** "I V" ** Intravenous

Seed Bear

She only wants me to carry her seed,
to bear a child of her son’s name.
She wouldn’t care if I died in childbirth
as long as their name lived on.
I know that.
I have watched her
slither from room to room
gushing over her grandchildren
like some hungry boa
ready to consume them all
one by one.
Her eyes
bulge with desire
and expectation
as she quietly calculates
how many more there can be
in her fold.
She, who has professed the miracle of motherhood,
is lifeless
as a blackboard,
empty as a Texas well in Summer.
She,
the giver of life,
gives no life.
She,
the creator,
has created only guilt,
and shame,
and fear.
I watch her watching me
and I know
it is not me that she wants,
but my uterus.
The only way she can justify
her existence
is through my blood.
Yes,
she wants another one
who will look
just like her.