To Our Angel Baby by Dezireé E. Joe-Shorty

My body aches to carry the weight of you,

My arms burn at the memory of the nurse taking you,

My lips suffer to brush against your silky cheeks.

Agony with leaking breasts,

Drooping skin,

Not hearing, “Mommy,”

The bare places you could have been.

I study your father,

Tracing the parts of him,

Wondering who you were supposed to be.

When I birthed you,

You gave me life.

Never have I been this strong,

I love you so much for that.

Now I run my hand gently over my stretched skin,

Remembering when you stretched my skin,

With your excitement, Slumber, Growth.

It is the best and worst thing.

Deziree E. Joe-Shorty wolyé. Naakaii Dine'é nilí, Kinyaa'áánii Dine’é yashchiin, Kinłichíi'nii Dine’é bicheii, Àshįįhnii Dine’é binálí. Akot'éego Diné asdzáá nilí. 

Deziree E. Joe-Shorty is what her name is. She is from the Wondering People clan born for the Towering House People Clan. Her material grandfather is the Red House People Clan and her paternal grandfather is the Salt People Clan. She is from Shiprock, Navajo Nation, residing in a border town to her reservation.

Her suns & moons are spent writing, painting, weaving, reading, searching for new sounds & inspiration. She’s a daughter, granddaughter, sister, wife, & a mother to an angel. That’s who she is as a Navajo woman.