Four Nativity Poems

Anthony Wilson, , , , ,

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Mary

 

At first a fluttering
then a kick,
his fist pummelling my ribcage
when I knelt to pray.

They sent me away,
my belly burgeoning
shame on his name,
his eyes looking right through me.

Amazed, he took me back.
He muttered
he’d seen him too
but best not mention it in company.

I sang then,
hymning prophecies
that were poetry
inventing themselves on my tongue.

The riots and the cold
you know about.
The roadblocks.
That donkey.

Let me tell you
nothing prepares you
for that O
cracking your pelvis,

his fists flailing in air
as if from nowhere,
tarnished wings
of an angel.

They say I said nothing
but treasured these things in my heart.
Pain overruled my throat
and hasn’t stopped since.

None of us gives birth
in silence.
I was no one’s favourite girl
till this.

You can read the Four Nativity Poems sequence here: Four Nativity Poems

You can read more Christmas Poems here. Please feel free to use them, but with the proviso that you credit me as the author, and my website anthonywilsonpoetry.com.

Published by Anthony Wilson

I am a lecturer, poet and writing tutor. I work in teacher and medical education at the University of Exeter. My anthology Lifesaving Poems was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2015. In 2012 I published Riddance (Worple Press), a collection of poems, and Love for Now (Impress Books), a memoir, about my experience of cancer. The Wind and the Rain, my sixth collection of poems, is available now from Blue Diode Publishing. My current research project, funded by the Foyle Foundation, is Young Poets' Stories: https://youngpoetsstories.com/. This blog is archived by the British Library.

8 Comments

  1. Thank you for sharing this suite of poems. Beautifully done re-take on the road to the Nativity. Reminded me to go look again at that poem that starts “A cold coming they had of it”….not sure if it was TS Elliot???

    I enjoyed them – loved the contemporary references like the WD 40 and the police helicopters. This is how it would be if it were today.

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    1. Dear Bev
      Thanks so much for your kind comment. Yes it is indeed Eliot -The Journey of the Magi. Still stunning and haunting -rich and strange in the words of the poet. I’m glad you liked the updated references. I have no doubt they’s be listening to an XFactor singer killing Hallelujah if it happened tomorrow. As ever with best wishes
      Anthony

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  2. I think these are absolutely terrific, Anthony. You have made/shown(?) the topicality in the old, old story. Some of the best lines about the experience of pregnancy and birth I have read!

    Wishing you a happy time at Christmas and New Year and all the time you need to write in the year ahead.

    Chris

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    1. Hi Chris

      Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my nativity poems. I appreciate it enormously, and take what you say as very high praise.

      Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and see you in the New Year.
      Anthony

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  3. Wonderful poems, Anthony. I wrote one last week (before I saw yours) about the use of frankincense and myrrh. I love all your modern ref’s – esp in ‘Herod’. Thank you for writing such fabulous poems – and sharing them. And for your insightful and intelligent articles throughout the year. All the v best, Char

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