4. Under the Umbrella, $300, 18 x 13 1/2
A friend watches while a mother comforts her baby.
Newborn
A shelter of silken coziness
the roundness of a nearby milky fountain
heartbeat as soothing a rhythm as
a train’s steady clacking on its tracks,
that’s the universe inside an infant’s sling.
A skirt of singing birds in an embroidery,
serape of ikat shapes jiving in diamonds,
mirrors that wink on a sari scarf,
the scene outside the sling
is a view too raw for newborn eyes.
Keep the babe slow dancing
in that place, absorbing
the warmth of skin cuddling in that space.
