Infants Remembered In Silence (IRIS) - Poems

A Mother

By Beth Ellithorpe

Am I?
Was I?

When people ask,
“Do you have any kids?”
Did I?

Do I explain this horrible tragedy?
I was a mother for 20 minutes.
Was I?

I gave birth to babies
Does that make me a mother?
Or do I simply know in my heart
That I had babies and I am a Mom
To my twins?

They know.
I know.

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