By Alaura
Strange how we use the word carcass. Primarily for animals and insects. Birds picking at a squirrel’s carcass. A spider’s carcass pressed against a wall. Normal in every day vocabulary in these contexts. What do I call him. The small body no longer breathing. Never taking one breath outside of me. His carcass is small in the glass bassinet. The word is harsh but I can’t think of another. He is a carcass now, picked over, pressed against a glass wall. Stillborn. Cold words. There he is frozen in his icy casket of glass. I wonder if I will ever unfreeze.
Felt the emotion. The analogies to use of the word carcass with animals evokes raw emotion.
Thank you, Rosemary!
Felt the emotion rising up within me as I read. Very raw.
Thank you, it was a hard one to write the emotion properly.
Very poignant.
Thank you!
An apt comparison. At childbirth, raw animal instinct adds to our human awareness of loss. Losing at child at birth is perhaps the deepest pain.
Thank you so much, Cathy!
How vividly you describe the depth of your pain!!! Remarkable, Alaura…….prayers for all of you, always.
Every word contributes to this taut story. That final line kills me.
No words…
Powerfu. Well-measured and carefully paced, yet so powerful. Well done.
Deeply felt.
Alaura, I’ll bet this was a hard story to write. Your good job pacing transitioned us from “animals and insects” to the stillborn infant. And your connecting “Cold words . . . frozen in his icy casket . . . if I will ever unfreeze” skillfully contrasts your narrator’s frigid despair with the typical warm ecstasy of childbirth. I found your story to be powerful and thought-provoking.