A Cracker Escapes

Mother said she always liked pistachio nuts, 

at least, until my lonely journey navigating my way out of her dark canal. 

‘Popping out like a delicate bundle of joy’,

- was not what she said. 

Forty four hours of hell! 

Forty four hours of hell! 

Forty four hours of hell,

has been repeated to me time

and time and time again.

One must remember I caused mother

‘Forty four hours of hell’ 

one must never forget.

Not the best mantra to spend a lifetime 

agitating one’s senses,

in an attempt to locate my share -

my share d****t,

of the universal love, in which 

had supposedly been allotted 

to me. (Apparently everyone gets their share.)

Forty hours of hell! 

I remember the story of my birth all to well,

it correlates all too efficiently (for mother) with my gift of mantra.

‘Forty hours of hell!’

The story is like an ancient scripture 

etched on my now rock hardened soul. 

I suppose it should teach me something…

Compassion, patience, acceptance? 

It is devilishly burdensome to seek such virtues

when the mantra,

‘Forty hours of hell!’

hangs around my neck like an eagerly awaiting tombstone.

My final descent through her canal consisted of 

‘cracking mother’s hips open like a stubborn pistachio nut shell’.

Her words, not mine.

Arriving to jowl spitting howls of pain,

intermingled with disgust and disparaged outrage.

Nurses said I was so shocked at the disturbance 

mother was creating, not a peep escaped me. 

I guess I did learn one virtue over the years, 

to accept with a certain kind of resilience and silence,

and to enjoy the sweet surrender when the pistachio shell 

gives way perversely, between my teeth. 

In the cover of my forthcoming recipe book entitled, 

“The Magical Life Creations of All Things Pistachio” 

Mother, I honour you.

Author's Note

Just playing with a flow of thought ...

Reviews

[Einstein Noodle]

gave me a fine first smile of the morning but as i read i felt this is more serious than that ..(i love pistachio nuts) the cracking open of one as giving birth scares the hell out of me ..so very glad to be a man ;) i can hear your mantra coming from an Italian mom and/or grandmother easily ;) i think they like that kind of humor/guilt ... it is a just remittance for "mom" to pay in receiving such a cook book ... i suppose it contains things as "braxton hicks cup cakes" and "contraction squeezed lemon cookies" ... or "don't drop pan cakes" ... or .....OK! i'm done ;) i do hope you and mom are getting along ... love and peace
E.

[Elmarie]

Awesome review :)

[KWP]

oh hello you ... my mum and I are are now and have always been just fab :) it was more just a play with words ... I wrote a piece with the same idea as an introduction to a novel ... I thought I would just play and see what came out as I have written anything for ages ... just a free flow you know ... I wanted to write a poem about Ganesh ... but I went a bit NUTS instead ... hahaha ... I know you get it ... I like your recipe ideas ... those first two give me flashback and not in a good way ... X

[Einstein Noodle]

love to you my very good friend! sorry about the flashbacks :}

[KWP]

hehehe ... I shall live to fight on ... and crack a few more nuts (between my breasts perhpas) ;D hahaha X

[Einstein Noodle]

ahahahaha! that's very funny ..such a visual :O ..i think my kids are a bunch of walnuts ..but i sure love 'em!

[Kathy Van Kurin]

KWp,
Forty Hours of Hell was quite honour to read as you just poured out on paper your feelings in really interesting way. I can see what is going through your mind I think. I know that life is sometimes brittle and difficult and I love it when people are able to process it in a way to at least make some sense. Cool poem!............................Kathy

[KWP]

hey Kathy, the poem came to me in pretty much a stream of consciousness - so I wrote it down :) funnily enough when I had each of my boys they were both fast and non stressful events :) I think I was trying to get into th eyes of another :)

[Kathy Van Kurin]

Yes, I see; nothing like having our own lives to bring us to a place of experience and hindsight. Glad that you are in a better place. Bless you much KWP..........................Kathy

[Valentine]

Funny how moms can talk of birthing you. For me the cord was around my neck, being born at home the doctor tossed me to the side and worked to save mom. She said she heard my dad say, 'Is it dead?' Later I started crying on my own. I too heard that story for years. Now I wish mom was alive to tell me again. Kathie

[emmajoy]

' ‘Forty hours of hell!’ -- -- -- -- hangs around my neck like an eagerly awaiting tombstone. ' Should i be grinning?!

No comment on my birth's process.. i was the seventh! What a wondrous poem, part tender, part not sure vicious with honesty, part understanding, part witty. You've written a controlled tale within wrapped free verse and made me want to rush to the nutcrackers and... look at them in a different light! Could be mishandled, missus. What a unique writer you are, taking readers into areas they didn't really know existed. God bless your mum fornot just finding you under a gooseberry bush.

[KWP]

ahh yes god bless my mumma :) she was great and this writing, well I am not sure exactly where it sprang from now, just another passing moment I guess and just trying to write really, cos the moments I get to write these days are a tad rare, I must get back to that ...

thanks for stopping by oh gorgeous one with the big heart ... love you for you X

[emmajoy]

Your writing always sets me imagining just how.. well, how life throws up this or that in varying degrees. Thoughts and memories come a'knocking at strange times and in strange ways. Thank you for so often sharing .

[Dash the Reaper]

Mother said she always liked pistachio nuts,
at least, until my lonely journey navigating my way out of her dark canal.


The very first line kept me glued till the end nicely done

[KWP]

Oh hey :-)

Cheers for the read my friend X

[KWP]

Oh hey :-)

Cheers for the read my friend X

[sinNsincerity]

How parents never forget and hold birth against us as if it were our fault hehe too funny.
I think it was very awesome of you to honour your mother is such a way!
Yumm.... stachios...

[andrew mitchell]

A lovely poem KWP I was brought up on bugs bunny and it was the drunk Stork that delivered babies lol. The joys of adulthood they never teach at school, 40 hours of labour. I'm glad i am a man who suffers the hell of a common cold lol.

[Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere]

What a story and what a comparison, KWP, but surely entertaining and I loved it. Very well done. :) Rudi

[KWP]

Cheers Rudi ... it was an interesting write :) LOVE X

[wordman]

hell,my mom was picking cotton when i just fell into the basket ! she kept on picking till it was full
lol,loved the story ! it will be a great portion of the book

[KWP]

Hey Boyfriend ... how lucky were you to fall into a basket of softness ... thanks for reading oh lovely one X

[jacob erin-cilberto]

cracking the nut...mmm....i felt this at times....my mother blamed me for being born and being such a burden...how many times i heard "didn't i raise you right?"

where did i go wrong...maybe it was something about that pistachio nut, and maybe they never forgive us for the pain...i think that would be such an interesting recipe book, i know the poem is.

i like how you used "forty"

like forty days and forty nights---like Lent...a time we fast, or we give up things....

j.

[KWP]

ha - what were you getting up to for her to chant that over and over???

I am glad you picked up on the use of the word forty (i Sure didn't - hehehe)

Cheers Jacob X

[Ruth]

I am often reminded also that it took nineteen hours of pain and in the end forceps...amid myriad other things...sure makes you wonder on the birthing process...this is both clever and visual KWP...an interesting read :)