Page 11 of Styx

It was my brothers

who were born next

of my mother’s womb.

By then, I was old enough

to help with their births

alongside my aunts.

I had grown from

an unruly and free childhood

into a more wary girlhood.

Every birth after my own

happened in multiples.

Like the fish she nurtured,

my mother gave birth

to schools of children.

Five brothers arrived at once.

My aunts and I had just

enough hands to catch

and wash them all.

While the women worked,

the male Gods celebrated

with cups full of nectar.

Theirs was an easy task.

To get drunk, eat well,

and simply wait.

I resented their laughter,

their easy conversation

while my mother laboured

and my aunts and I

held her hands,

cooled her forehead,