- Cradle and All
What I love about an infant body is its softness What I hate about softness is its relationship to rotWhat I love about rot is its perpetual generosity What I hate about generosity is its random proliferationWhat I love about proliferation is its heart of fire What I hate about fire is its heart of destructionWhat I love about destruction is its path to the new What I hate about the new is the shock slap surpriseWhat I love about surprise is the awakening What I hate about awakening is the alarmWhat I love about the alarm is its effort toward birdsong What I hate about birdsong is the cat beneathWhat I love about beneath is your warm breath in the dark What I hate about the dark is its indifference toward starsWhat I love about stars is their persistence What I hate about persistence is how it leaves usWhat I love about us is how we became an infant body What I hate about an infant body is its softness [End Page 60]
Heidi Lynn Staples is the author of two poetry collections: Guess Can Gallop (New Issues, 2004) and Dog Girl (Ahsahta, 2008). Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Best American Poetry 2004, Chicago Review, Denver Quarterly, Ploughshares, and many others. Currently, she lives in Dublin, Ireland, where she teaches at the Irish Writers' Centre.