“September_4_&_5”

“September 4 & 5” By Kathryn Lomer ‘September 4 & 5’ by Kathryn Lomer is a poem published rather recently, graphically describing the unique experience of childbirth. In the poem a women describes the physical and emotional feelings she has while going through a difficult labour that ultimately results in a caesarean birth. The hardships are explored throughout the first seven stanzas of the poem which concludes with three loving stanzas depicting the mother’s unconditional love for her child as she cradles it. The first seven stanzas of the poem depict the physical pain of the process of giving birth through the incorporation of harsh sounds, words and phrases such as “obstructing”, “ragged impulses” and “controlled electrocution.” This emphasises illustrates the often portrayed side of giving birth, with its difficulties and endurance. Contrasting this, the last three stanzas utilise soft loving sounds, words and phrases like “delicate braille of vertebrae”, “I nuzzle” and “you are alive, but you were already.” Kathryn Lomer uses these sounds to reflect the meaning of the words conveying the unconditional love of the mother for her child, showing the instinctual and almost animalistic feelings that posses her. She shows that though the physical component of giving birth can be hard and painful, the child that comes out of the process is completely worth it. The imagery creates contrast between the sense of connectedness between the mother and her child throughout the poem, and the sterile detachedness of the hospital. The poet writes “My baby’s amplified rhythm writes erratic notes in scrolled blue ink. How could I sleep with this music inside me'” as compared to “Prostaglandin spreads like cold honey,” the first image being that of a child, its heartbeat already creating an imprint, whereas the second is very technical using medical discourse to ensure that the reader understands the hospital setting. The ambiguity of phrases such as “sterile dark enfolding my body” and “Green, they say” reflect the uncertainty of giving birth, the pain and the gain and the overall good and bad. The use of ‘enfolding’ a word with mostly positive connotations in a phrase with ‘sterile dark’ without a doubt negative in its meaning creates an ambiguous phrase conveying both that connectedness and detachedness. Overall Kathryn Lomer conveys the bitter sweet journey that is giving birth to a child and the unconditional love that is born with that child. The pain and hardships that must be endured are worth the trouble once she has a living, breathing baby who is akin to ‘a poem read over and over’ until she has ‘the lines by heart’.