The Woman With Love Child by Laura Chester

As we locked bodies and gripped for the gateway I knew someone burst into being an angel out of nothing and I carried him high through those nine month miles, despite their questions and I sang to the wet winds that took away the father he would never know but it didn’t seem to matter. He swam out of my womb a love child smooth as a swan black as a swan and when he smiled for the first time, my heart beat its heavy wings until the air stirred around us. And when the government voice said bastard, state, belongings-- We flew, we flew. From “In the Zone: New Selected Writing” (Black Sparrow Press: $20, cloth; $12.50, paper; 231 pp.) Chester is the author of more than 10 volumes of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. She lives in the Berkshires of Massachusetts with her two sons, Clovis and Ayler. The poem above is the second of four by Chester on pregnancy and related themes to be reprinted in Book Review over the coming weeks. 1988, Laura Chester. Reprinted by permission of Black Sparrow Press.