a father’s rule
a brother’s will
the needs of pigs
that must be slopped
until the farm divided
bought her passage
to the New World’s
airless rooms
tin tub baths
against the stove
stale bread
soaked in milk
days spent scrubbing
walls and windows
mattresses
on rusted fire escapes
gaslit lampposts
sweaty nights
in marriage
called by the priest
her cross to bear
a cross that laid its weight
on her at night
forcing her
into bedsprings
pushing babies
through
her dropped womb
crushing her voice
before it left her throat...
when the ladder
was kicked out
under her
when the first blows
landed in her belly
where the next child curled
the only witness
was a five-year-old
who could not
change this story
but swore someday
to be
the shield
that would enforce
protection
by Margaret D. Stetz
Margaret D. Stetz is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Delaware, as well as the granddaughter of Ukrainian immigrants and the daughter of a New York City Transit Police Officer.
