ATTACHMENT THEORY
They slashed my mother’s belly
to drag me out; six weeks early;
a five pound tumor; stashed
in the neonatal ICU.
Nowadays they say
the compression
is worth the mild oxygen
deprivation of a vaginal birth,
and, true enough, I was always
extra bright and a little off-key.
My mother said she couldn’t breast-
feed, but now I know it was me−
too uncoordinated to latch,
which followed me to gym class
and numerous doomed romances.
*
Julie Benesh is author of the poetry collection INITIAL CONDITIONS and the chapbook ABOUT TIME, has been published in Tin House, Another Chicago Magazine, Florida Review, and other places, earned an MFA from Warren Wilson College, and received an Illinois Arts Council Grant. She works as a professor and management consultant and holds a PhD in human and organizational systems. She recently moved from Chicago to Black Mountain, NC.
