Skin to Skin

My purple daughter is pulled out from inside of me and placed on my chest

(skin to skin)

(dust to dust)

we are both more water than anything else.

I am thinking about peeling things

old sunburn and paint,

the willow near the lake, the way the supple, bending twigs are dressed in bark like a wetsuit 

to be peeled in strips, revealing the smooth wood inside.

Flip a log to find the scattered world below;

Mushrooms, worms, the pulsing energy of decay.

Here it is––

A whole dead world ready to be eaten.

I am so relieved to hear her scream.