by Amy Roberts

it was something like veins

that connected me to you

to all of you

a closed ecosystem

and i was dependent in every way

one slender, life-giving cord

for each and every face

like a womb

like a hive

do you know how much it took

to cut them all?

to bleed every time?

to feel a death?

to be a killer?

and here you stand

asking why i did it

as though i could stop

my own birth