Nadia Colburn
THE PHYSICAL WORLD
For nine months
I anticipated,
as the other end
of pain,
a revelation:
a world turned
inside out.
Each inch I grew
marked a promise:
my present physical
certainty, my approaching
release.
And, indeed,
torn open,
I gave birth
to the end of ideas.
Beyond pain was born
no understanding,
beyond understanding
was revealed
no new knowing but
another body, robust,
which no thought
set screaming,
purple faced,
infuriated at air,
and no thought moved closer
to my breast,
and no thought closed
its thinly lidded
round brown eyes,
so soon worn out
by the unfamiliar light.
From Mom Egg Review Vol. 14
A proud mother of two, Nadia Colburn lives in Cambridge, MA. Her work has been widely published in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, LARB, Southwest Review, and elsewhere. A founding editor at Anchor Magazine: where spirituality and social justice meet, Nadia teaches online and in person creative writing workshops that bring together the head and the heart. See more at www. nadiacolburn.com.