Womb Song by Esther Vincent Xueming is a book of poems.
It opens with Turtle Song, which describes how a reptile drops 120 eggs into a sand hole and then crawls back into the sea. Its a beautiful poem.
I used to keep terrapins. They live in freshwater When they were young, their shells were dark green.
As they grew older, their shells became darker green.
In the poem #2 entitled Sea, the poet explains why she wants to love excessively. She talks about this in reference to her late dog Ealga.
In the poem #3 Grief, Esther sees the empty bed of her dog. She misses her.
Poem #4 River is like a metaphor, to describe Ealga’s physical condition, wrecked by bladder cancer.
Poem #5 Lotus Universe is tough to interpret if I don’t relay on the conventions of the lotus and its meaning.
Poem #6 Temple Vignettes is a tribute to the poet’s time in a meditation retreat in Watt Prayong Gittivanaram, in 2022.
I may draw images inspired by some poems later.
Reptiles are often misunderstood, but they are amazing creatures.