Fear 1944

Alison Pick

She lost her parents,
her home, religion,
but fear survived.
She locked it in her body.

Like a gas chamber she sealed off
every opening, eyes and ears,
pressed her lips together
to contain it inside,
her stomach swelling
until she couldn't hold it
any longer — she opened, then,
her cervix like a mouth
and the scream that tore out
was my father.

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Alison Pick's works copyright © to the author.