Allison Mei-Li
I Don’t Want to Write a Poem
After Isabelle Correa
I want to birth a poem
coax it to life
under a full moon,
screaming
swaddle a poem
in muslin cloth
stay up all night
watching its chest rise
let it make
me crazy
I want to feed a poem
my milk and blood
til I have nothing left
to call my own
I want to bathe a poem
bend and bruise myself
for a poem
cradle its soft spot
in my open hands
I want to let a poem leave me
before I’m ready
watch it walk away,
carrying something bigger
than the sound of my voice
Allison Mei-Li lives in Southern California, where she is a mother, writer, and speech-language pathologist. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Coffee and Crumbs, Ink and Marrow Lit, the VC Reporter, Wildscape, and elsewhere. She writes a monthly poetry series at allisonwrites.substack.com and shares her work on Instagram at @writtenbyallison.