“The Truly Screaming Baby” by Heather McHugh

An excerpt from the poem, “The Truly Screaming Baby,” by Heather McHugh, published at Scoundrel Time:

The Truly Screaming Baby

Thank God says the woman in 13E
we’re not back there she means
back there with the mom
with the truly screaming baby
and the two toddlers to boot (by God she’d never
boot these two) these other two who didn’t once
between them (sourly now my row-mate feels
it is important to inform me) listen to a word
she said.  The baby sounds to be
in agony.  We haven’t yet

entirely taxi’d out to take-off.
None of the passengers appears
remotely sympathetic and I can’t help
wincing on the mom’s behalf:  what if
the baby’s sick what if she’s always
like this and mother’s feeling
permanently miserable since given this
one hoped-for getaway she cannot get away
what is a flight if not an escapade and yet
her fellow passengers are blaming her
for what she can’t escape or even manage to
ameliorate what if they’re penniless and this

is her one chance to visit relatives who might
relieve if not relate what if the father’s
always off carousing and comes home
an hour or two to get her
pregnant once again then take
her just as much to task as these more
pampered people on the airplane do
what makes this baby’s life so utterly

[…continue reading here]