Sayonara
Kiesa Kay
Let me take you in my arms
Sayonara
Press your rosebud tiny lips
to this full breast
Breathe softly so as not to alarm you
Raise you up to the sunlight
Teach you letters numbers
planets the cycle of the moon
Let me calm you
Sayonara
in the grip of a nightmare
Rub your soft belly
as you snuggle sweet
Hold your hand
as we cross the street
together
Shout your name
if you run into danger
And your father
Sayonara
threatens suicide
if I do not abort you
Silently I ponder
whose hand to hold
whose hand to let go
Let me take you in my arms
Sayonara
Press your rosebud tiny lips
to this full breast
Breathe softly so as not to alarm you
Raise you up to the sunlight
Teach you letters numbers
planets the cycle of the moon
Let me calm you
Sayonara
in the grip of a nightmare
Rub your soft belly
as you snuggle sweet
Hold your hand
as we cross the street
together
Shout your name
if you run into danger
And your father
Sayonara
threatens suicide
if I do not abort you
Silently I ponder
whose hand to hold
whose hand to let go
Working notes
“Sayonara” emerged in a burst of light. As a feminist, I felt pulled powerfully to support a woman’s right to choose what would happen to her own body, and as a womanist, I also found that the right to choose became a weapon of oppression against women whose bodies and souls felt connected intimately to the children growing within them. Abortion makes women better sex toys for men, and many women who have the procedure ache for years afterward, feeling strongly that they’ve killed somebody.
When I was pregnant, I dreamed of a baby blowing bubbles in the amniotic fluid, telling me, “Protect me.” I felt very strongly that this spirit would be brought to earth through my body. It truly meant choosing life, honoring spiritual connection beyond this world of form.
I wrote “Sayonara” twenty-three years ago. My daughter is twenty-two years old now, with long copper-colored hair and green eyes that deepen when thunderstorms rise. She and my son create grace and joy in my life. I will be a feminist and a womanist for life.
When I was pregnant, I dreamed of a baby blowing bubbles in the amniotic fluid, telling me, “Protect me.” I felt very strongly that this spirit would be brought to earth through my body. It truly meant choosing life, honoring spiritual connection beyond this world of form.
I wrote “Sayonara” twenty-three years ago. My daughter is twenty-two years old now, with long copper-colored hair and green eyes that deepen when thunderstorms rise. She and my son create grace and joy in my life. I will be a feminist and a womanist for life.
About the author
Kiesa Kay, editor of two educational anthologies and a lifelong poet, lives in the Appalachians. She works as a recovery coordinator at a healing farm. Kiesa's writing a book about her work as a forensic interviewer, titled Sky Eyes, and rewriting a play about the sculptor Camille Claudel.
For an updated list of works published in TRIVIA, please see this author's contributor page.
For an updated list of works published in TRIVIA, please see this author's contributor page.