catapult magazine

Wait, What's Life?

by Z.G. Tomaszewski

What did Atlas feel?
            I wonder
that the world is not
                        the Mother,
but a womb of
the Mother,
            wherein
Atlas is no more than
                        an egg
and all the weight
he’s due to bare
            is minimal
compared to
                        the Mother’s
back, bones bent
and bowing;
breathing
            for more than
Herself.
                        So when
Atlas sighs
may we be reminded
that we too are babies
kicking in
                        a world
that cradles us,
 and may Atlas
            acknowledge
there’s more
weight to his
Mother’s womb
                        than what’s in
his hands.