my sister—

my sister—
six months along,
twenty-five years old—
leave the house in tattered maternity clothes
and her womb protruding from her
boney frame

her steps are wide,
her swelling feet treading-
stomping on the driveway
with her daughter's girth:
glass footprints penetrate the earth
and her toes dig into the soil—
burrow deeper
deeper

her belly sways and lulls
her daughter to sleep,
her popping darkly eyes finally give way to the sounds of
her mother's heavy breath