Annette Makino
Kin
We don’t want to get to the hospital too early. So the nurse-midwife has told us to wait until my contractions are coming just five minutes apart and last at least a minute. I labor on, breathing and sounding through the pain.
In our house in the redwoods, I feel connected to all the other bear, deer and fox mothers around us. I know they labor through the dark night like this, giving birth in their dens beyond our walls.
The contractions get more and more intense but stay six minutes apart. Suddenly, a huge force moves through my body and something round and brown emerges—the head.
Another massive contraction, Paul’s gentle tug, and we are a family.
moonlit forest one more wingbeat carries the owl home
About the Author
Annette Makino is an award-winning haiku poet and artist based in Arcata, California who combines paintings and collages with her poems. Her work regularly appears in the leading haiku journals and anthologies. Through her art business, Makino Studios, she shares her haiga, cards, calendars and books. www.makinostudios.com.