Ingrid Andersson
Nova Stella
I knew from the out-of-the-blue
lull that can befall hard labor,
bestowing sleep,
that she was fully dilated:
I pronounced her complete.
The woman roused,
turned dilated eyes to me
and said—with blinding
depth and more
love than I have ever seen—
No one ever told me that before,
and reaching down
through a burst and flash
of milky caul,
caught a
daughter.
Originally published in MER 20
As a practicing midwife, Ingrid Andersson feels privileged to work daily within a world of heroic Mother Figures. Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net and has appeared in Eastern Iowa Review (Editor’s Choice award), Midwest Review, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, Minerva Rising and other venues. Her debut collection of poetry, Jordemoder: Poems of a Midwife, was published in 2022 by Holy Cow! Press.