Ethershop, Fall 2009

Probably the most impressive quality of Deborah Garrison’s The Second Child: Poems is its relatable-ness. The poet deals mostly with themes of motherhood, particularly a mother suffering from postpartum depression as in the aptly named, “Not Pleasant but True.” Garrison explores a multitude of emotions of a new mother although she is discussing the birth of her second child. She includes poems that say goodbye to a past way of life as well as physical location—her family moved from New York to New Jersey following the birth of their second daughter. She writes about the fears of explaining things such as death and infinity to her five year old daughter. And of course, she spends much of her time describing the joys of loving a new baby:

“A Joke” (excerpt)

Drinking on my left tonight
you tossed up your left
hand and sweetly poked
your index finger in my mouth,
and I, amusing myself, suck it
in time with you—you all
mine, good enough to eat,
blank baby boychik.

All in all Garrison’s second volume of poetry is a beautiful look at the swift changes of emotional needs that a mother takes upon herself with the birth of her child.

Chelsie