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Monday, November 07, 2016

I Wasn't Breastfed?

“Mom,
the latest research says
you deprived me of
necessary chemicals,
so now,

I am an adult
searching endlessly for

that essential tenderness,
that intimacy denied,

parting
my vulnerable pink lips,
waiting for a nipple,
some milk,

all because
I didn’t suckle
on cue.”

27 comments:

  1. Ha! This made me laugh, Sir. Thank you.

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  2. I guess we could all use an excuse to search for intimacy.

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    Replies
    1. An excuse or a reason for searching, either way thanks for reading/commenting.

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  3. Quite clever take on the prompt.

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  4. Replies
    1. Thanks, I usually take "that's different" as a compliment.

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  5. Love the sparkling wit and humor here, Mosk ❤️

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    1. Thanks, and I'm amazed that people find this funny. I think it's heartbreakingly sad, but maybe I'm wrong.

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  6. Oh yes.. there has to be a reason.. why not this.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, I sense there's something real here.

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  7. Anonymous6:51 AM

    I don't think this is funny at all. I think it is very serious, a genuine, heartfelt expression of need. Boys (and girls) really do need their mommies, no matter how old they get. I am an extreme breastfeeder --- probably one of the very few American mothers who weans at age 3. So I completely get this poem ... especially that heartbreaking last line. So many women give up trying almost immediately because it's not easy. You'd think it'd be a "natural" (i.e., easy) endeavor, but it's not. It takes work to get both mommy and baby in groove/sync together. But it's so worth it, no matter how hard it is.

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    1. Yay! You win for having the correct interpretation. I believe breastfeeding is such an intimate expression of love and care, and I think the psychological effects are enormous. (In my quest to understand why I don't trust people's love of me and why I am so incredibly orally fixated, I have latched on - no pun intended- to this as a possible explanation.) Seriously, thank you - I feel understood and vindicated.

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    2. Anonymous2:18 PM

      Grown men love to breastfeed. They may not be willing to just throw it out there using that word, but it's true.

      There's nothing creepy about it at all. My older children very much miss that freedom ... to connect in that way. ~Not that they'd literally want to do that now ... but in a way, they would. You know what I mean, psychologically.

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    3. Thank you for saying this. As a grown man, I completely agree.

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    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Gayle Walters Rose5:22 PM

    Well, I know how much I enjoyed breastfeeding my two daughters. It's a relationship like no other...you're so completely connected on many levels. I have no doubt that most of us missed out on this very important experience leaving us...searching, oh yes!

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  9. I was sorry I couldn't feed my sons, but made sure they got lots of cuddles during the bottle feeding.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I'm sure they did. Maybe its just an excuse I heard and liked.

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  10. Intriguing ideas played with here. Perhaps it matters. Perhaps it steers our future course.Perhaps we can heal. Let go. Perhaps.

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    1. Thanks, but I can't let go of what I never had. Still searching for that elemental connection.

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  11. Replies
    1. I guess it *is* funny on some level.

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  12. Got to respect your willingness to bring up a topic that for many is taboo. I feel that whether we do or don't have that experience has an impact, but it is also the quality of the connection (when feeding) that counts, as well as the quality of a myriad of other interactions with mother and others from then on.

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