Samantha Kolber

 

The rite of passage into womanhood
is not complete without body changes.
We turn round, glowing, then full like the moon,
inspect every pinch of our mirrored
images. Breasts grow tender and swollen.
We are proud, show them off to our lovers.
Our full glands ready for suckling, calling
for gentle handling, though, under the covers.
Bellies that ripen and bulge out of pants
seem all too familiar—we’ve done this before.
‘Course we have, this life cycle not left to chance.
Our cycles cease for another to be born.
We carry the weight of new life inside;
outside, we, too, are reborn with the tide.

 

Samantha Kolber is an award-winning poet who has published in many journals and anthologies, including Mom Egg Review, Hunger Mountain, and Oddball Magazine. She received her MFA from Goddard College and completed post-grad work at Pine Manor College’s Solstice MFA Program. She lives in Montpelier, Vermont, where she coordinates events and marketing for Bear Pond Books and is the Poetry Series Editor for Rootstock Publishing. Her chapbook “Birth of a Daughter” was published with Kelsay Books in 2020. Read and listen to her poems at her website, samanthakolber.com.