Challenge from Jennifer Jowett:  write an origin poem – what are your roots?

Waycross Welcoming

on Ware Street
in Waycross, Georgia
in the wee hours
of July 8
water breaks

hospital-bound
Felix heart-pounding cool
Miriam painfully excited
about the happy and
interesting journey ahead

drama-filled waiting room
Felix sweating it out
family gathered
1966-style:
NO DADS ALLOWED! birthside

new parents, driving home
humming
singing
praying
wondering
What are we in for?

beneath Plant Avenue
by the landmark Green Frog
I answered…
with an undeniable gas bomb…
they understood a little more

I was christened
with family tears of joy
Miriam as beautiful through birth
as when she left us in 2015
our mournful tears, deathside

welcomings, homegoings
different origins
little blips on the dash –
joys and sorrows
of consummation