Seven
by Carrie Rudzinski
The third time I was born
my shoulders were double jointed
and my mother named me
for the years I had slept in her mind-
the years I had wrapped
my arms twice around her womb.
Those first years we slept
shoulder to hip atop the wake
of the Oak bed - the sails of that house
swung open - our names carved in the floorboards.
Those were the summers moss grew in our cupboards-
the birthdays celebrated by baptizing our fists-
the evenings we watched the trains pull
people from our lives until their lights burned out,
swallowed in the heat rising from the earth.
I would lay on the gravel and lick the rust from those tracks
until my mother lifted my swollen chest
and wiped the blisters from my mouth-
hushing the war of my body with her silence-
rocking me against the sky until we both understood
how easy we were to leave.
There in the dark
my mother became the dreams of my father-
the history of a blue door - and we ran
like wolves and we drank from the Tukami until our bellies were full
and we could sleep in the bed of the river
with the moon in our throats.
These were the years my mother would speak of
when asked about the death of the trees.
This was before the migration - before she wrapped herself
around me like a dying pet and told me
of all those seasons I lived inside her without moving.
This was before she buried us in the pasture
behind the Railroad Station-
the wail of the last train
dying in our ears.
CARRIE RUDZINSKI is a co-founder of the Emerson Poetry Project and a member of the 2008
Semi Finalist and 2009 Finalist Emerson College Slam Teams. She was named “Best Female
Poet” and “Best Of The Rest” at the 2008 College Union's Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI). In
2010, she organized and ran the 2010 CUPSI at Emerson College, became a member of the
2010 Boston Cantab National Slam Team who finished in Semi-Finals at the National Poetry
Slam, and became the 2010 Individual World Poetry Slam representative for the Cantab Lounge.
Carrie is also a member of The Gringo Choir, a performance poetry troupe, and enjoys being
barefoot.
The third time I was born
my shoulders were double jointed
and my mother named me
for the years I had slept in her mind-
the years I had wrapped
my arms twice around her womb.
Those first years we slept
shoulder to hip atop the wake
of the Oak bed - the sails of that house
swung open - our names carved in the floorboards.
Those were the summers moss grew in our cupboards-
the birthdays celebrated by baptizing our fists-
the evenings we watched the trains pull
people from our lives until their lights burned out,
swallowed in the heat rising from the earth.
I would lay on the gravel and lick the rust from those tracks
until my mother lifted my swollen chest
and wiped the blisters from my mouth-
hushing the war of my body with her silence-
rocking me against the sky until we both understood
how easy we were to leave.
There in the dark
my mother became the dreams of my father-
the history of a blue door - and we ran
like wolves and we drank from the Tukami until our bellies were full
and we could sleep in the bed of the river
with the moon in our throats.
These were the years my mother would speak of
when asked about the death of the trees.
This was before the migration - before she wrapped herself
around me like a dying pet and told me
of all those seasons I lived inside her without moving.
This was before she buried us in the pasture
behind the Railroad Station-
the wail of the last train
dying in our ears.
CARRIE RUDZINSKI is a co-founder of the Emerson Poetry Project and a member of the 2008
Semi Finalist and 2009 Finalist Emerson College Slam Teams. She was named “Best Female
Poet” and “Best Of The Rest” at the 2008 College Union's Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI). In
2010, she organized and ran the 2010 CUPSI at Emerson College, became a member of the
2010 Boston Cantab National Slam Team who finished in Semi-Finals at the National Poetry
Slam, and became the 2010 Individual World Poetry Slam representative for the Cantab Lounge.
Carrie is also a member of The Gringo Choir, a performance poetry troupe, and enjoys being
barefoot.