Samantha Imperi – To my child, on God

Samantha Imperi’s powerful tragic poem “To my child, on God” muses God as a feminine force, forced to give birth to the universe she doesn’t want. This incredibly relevant poem touches upon womanly autonomy, forced birth, divinity, and the lack of it. Samantha’s poem, part of a larger collection about her complex decision to not give birth she tells The Dewdrop, is couplet after couplet touching on suffering, attachment, helplessness, loneliness, fate, and creation.

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To my child, on God

God is a comfort only to those who believe
that the universe was a planned pregnancy

the well-intentioned God, our father
decided he was ready to invent

and like art whittled our existence
of course, in his image. What if, instead

God was a mother, hands bound
when galaxy upon galaxy exploded

out from her warm, wet center,
some seed of life incubated inside

and raging forward, a violent
unexpected birth. Maybe God

had no choice but to create,
hostage to the principles of heat,

to the laws of attraction – maybe she
did not want to have children. Perhaps

God in all her infinite wisdom knew
what her progeny would be capable of

and the powerlessness of parenthood.
Perhaps in her final quiet moments

she prayed to something greater than herself
to save her from this unfortunate fate

and when no deus ex machina descended
from on high, when she realized

there would be no relief ever after
from the permanence of creation,

as life came cascading
from her heavenly body, she wept.